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COLUMBUS: 



OB, 



THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 



BY 



GEORGE CUBITT 




BOSTON: 

D. LOTHROP & COMPANY, 

32 Franklin Street. 

i88i. 



^ 



Copyright, i88i, 
By D. Lothrop & Company. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FAOB 

■^ Genoa, the Birthplace of Columbus . . Frontispiece 

i Medal — Columbus Title 

-^Columbus ii 

-i Lisbon 27 

^ Salamanca 51 

^ The Caravel of Columbus 69 

{Facsimile of a Wood-engraving of 1493, from a 
Design by Cohtmbus himself.) 

^ The Caravels of Columbus 105 

Sighting the New World 115 

V Americus Vespucius 123 

•^ Hispaniola 133 

"^Barcelona . . 157 

^ Arms of Columbus 165 

Cadiz 177 

^ Native House 193 

^ Ruins of Columbus* House, St. Domingo . . . 203 
Coffin of Lead discovered in the Cathedral at St. 

Domingo 217 

" Tomb of Columbus at Havana 221 

1 Inscription on a Silver Plate found in the Coffin 224 

7 



CONTENTS 



PAOB 

CHAPTER I. — Birth and Early Life of Columbus . . 13 

CHAPTER II. — Early Manhood 26 

CHAPTER III. — Belief that Land existed in the West . 36 

CHAPTER IV. — Events relative to Discovery ... 44 

CHAPTER v. — First Arrival of Columbus in Spain . . 56 

CHAPTER VL — Ferdinand and Isabella . . . .65 

CHAPTER VII. — Columbus seeks Spanish Assistance . 78 

CHAPTER VIII. — Preparations for the Expedition . . 93 

CHAPTER IX. — Events of the First Voyage . . .105 

CHAPTER X, — First Landing of Columbus in the New 
World 119 

CHAPTER XL — Discovery of Cuba and Hispaniola .128 

CHAPTER XII. — Reception in Spain . . . .155 

CHAPTER XIIL — Character and Work of Columbus .166 

CHAPTER XIV. — The Third Voyage . . . .194 

CHAPTER XV. — The Fourth Voyage . . . .211 




C0LUM1V3. 



COLUMBUS 



CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 

FOR ages, to the more civilized nations of 
Europe, the greater portion of the world 
was unknown. All beyond the limits of the 
Roman empire was what the very imperfect maps 
then possessed stated it to be, terra incognita. 
Northern Europe was considered as barbarous, 
and its higher boundary-coast was little under- 
stood. Of eastern Asia it was only known that 
there were regions to the north and east. The 
Mediterranean shores of Africa, from Palestine 
to the "Pillars of Hercules," were of course 

13 



14 COLUMBUS. 

known, and a small portion of the coasts washed 
by the Atlairtic; but nothing beyond. How far 
Asia stretched to the east, and what lay between 
it and the west of Europe, except the unpassed 
Atlantic, was as unknown, as if it existed not. 
While navigation was confined to the coasts, 
and mariners dared not venture out of sight of 
land, such ignorance was sure to continue. 

The discovery of the " mariner's compass " in- 
troduced a new era. This most important instru- 
ment had long been known to that singular 
people, the Chinese ; and it is generally believed 
that Marco Polo, w^ho returned from his eastern 
travels, about A. d. 1260, brought the account of 
it into Europe. Its European origin, however, 
is involved in obscurity. About the middle of 
the fifteenth century, a comparatively correct idea 
of the form of Africa appears to have been ac- 
quired by the Portuguese, probably by means 
of the trading Moors. Some years subsequently 
the Portuguese, — then a mercantile and enter- 
prising people, not having been brought down 



BIRTH AND EAKLY LIFE. 15 

by the lethargy occasioned by priestly domination 
and long years of ignorance, — were desirous 
of sharing the trade of India Avith Alexandria 
and the East. Expeditions were accordingly fitted 
out for the circumnavigation of Africa. A strong 
impulse had been given to the public mind by 
the patriotic zeal of Prince Henry, son of John 
I. and Philippa of Lancaster, sister of Henry IV. 
of England. He had accompanied his father 
into Africa, on an expedition against the Moors, 
and had received much information concerning 
countries to the south, then altogether unknoAvn 
in Europe. The Canary Islands liad again been 
discovered, and voyages were occasionally made 
to them, and from them to the opposite shores 
of Morocco ; so that the coast, from the Straits 
to Cape Bojador, was tolerably known. Lea\dng 
the court, lie took up his residence near Cape St. 
Vincent, in full view of the ocean; and there, 
with men eminent in science, he pursued his 
geographical studies, and formed plans of dis- 
covery. 



16 COLUMBUS. 

It occurred to him, that if Africa could be 
circumnavigated, a sea-road to India would be 
opened, and at least a share of its lucrative 
trade be diverted from the Venetians to his own 
country. He communicated to others a portion 
of his own enthusiasm ; and many who had 
hitherto believed that the navigation of the torrid 
zone was impracticable, and who dreaded the 
idea of sailing beyond Cape Bojador, began, not 
only to think it possible to extend their voyages 
with safety, but earnestly to desire to do so. 
Expeditions, therefore, were fitted out. The im- 
provements already effected in nautical science 
were brought into practical navigation. Cape 
Bojador was doubled. The coast was explored 
as far as Cape de Verde, the Azores were dis- 
covered, and Prince Henry, already anticipating 
the results of the spirit he had thus roused into 
action, obtained, according to the custom of the 
age, a papal bull, by which Portugal was in- 
vested with the sovereignty of whatever lands 



BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 17 

might be discovered in tlie Atlantic, as far as 
India. 

This enterprising prince, who was so far beyond 
his own age, died in November, 1472 ; and though 
the impulse he had communicated was diminished 
by his death, still much of it remained in opera- 
tion. Africa had been explored on its coast as 
far as the twenty-second degree of south latitude. 
In 1487, Bartholomew Diaz returned from a voy- 
age in which he had been enabled to discover 
three hundred leagues more of coast, and reach 
the Great Cape, which he had doubled in a 
storm, though without knowing it. He named it 
Caho Tormentoso, or the " Stormy Cape." It 
was not until about ten years afterwards, when 
passed by Vasco de Gama, on his voyage to 
India, that it received its new and permanent 
appellation, — that of the " Cape of Good Hope." 

Between the crowns of Portugal and Castile 
there were frequent disputes, arising from con- 
flicting views relative to navigation. Maritime 
questions regularly engaged the attention of the 



18 COLUMBUS. 

Spaniards, and one of the bigli officers of state 
bore the title of "Admiral of Castile." Por- 
tugal was the more enterprising of the two, — 
perhaps because the more united. Spain, as yet, 
was many rather than one ; and the contests 
between the various sovereigns of the several 
states prevented all unity of action as to without. 
Portugal was connecting itself with Africa and 
India, while Spain was moving slowly and un- 
consciously to the oneness which it had to attain 
before discovery could fix new gems in her crown. 
And at length, in 1479, when the " war of the 
succession " was ended, and Ferdinand of Arragon 
and Isabella of Castile reigned unitedly over all 
Spain, — except the small kingdom of Granada 
in the south-west, to which the once triumphant 
Spanish Arabs were now restricted, — an agree- 
ment with Portugal seemed to shut up the only 
door through which it was so long believed mari- 
time enterprise could pass. Portugal renounced 
all claim to the throne of Castile, and it was, on 
the other hand, agreed that the Spaniards, retain- 



BIETH AND EAKLY LIl^E. 19 

ing the Canaries, should renounce to the Portu- 
guese all rights of commerce and discovery on 
the western coast of Africa, and to the south- 
ward. Only the western Atlantic, therefore, was 
left to them, and no Spaniard then dreamed of 
sailing beyond its far horizon. Here, therefore, 
the progress of Spanish discovery paused. Nor 
was the idea of its revival, especially in the 
only practicable direction, ever presented to the 
country, till a foreigner, poor, long-neglected, and 
despised, — Christopher Columbus, — not only 
suggested the idea, but implored to be enabled 
to carry it into effect. 

" Christopher Columbus," one of the most cele- 
brated names in the history of mankind, was an 
Italian. He was born at Genoa, about the year 
1435. His parents were poor, but reputable. His 
father was a wool-comber. He had two brothers, 
Bartholomew and (as the Italian name Giacomo 
is in Spanish) Diego, with one sister. Chris- 
topher was the oldest child. 

His parents were attentive to his education in 



20 COLUMBUS. 

youth. Together with reading, writing, and arith- 
metic, he made some proficiency in drawing. His 
mind, however, was most strongly inclined to 
geography, and he very early manifested a de- 
cided predilection for a seafaring life. In sub- 
sequent years, he was accustomed devoutly to 
refer this to a Divine impulse, awakening desires 
and directing to studies, preparatory to the work 
which at length he was the instrument of ac- 
complishing. His father, perceiving his inclina- 
tions, sought, so far as his abilities allowed, to 
give him an education suited to his disposition. 
He was sent to the University of Pavia, and 
was taught geometry, geography, astronomy, and 
navigation. He also became familiar with Lat- 
in. But he could only remain a short time at 
Pavia, and much of the knowledge which after- 
wards he evidently possessed was the result of 
his own diligent improvement of whatever leisure 
he might, at different periods, be able to com- 
mand. He stands among those who furnish 
valuable lessons to the young, as well as an en- 



BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 21 

couraging example. Through subsequent neglect 
the rudiments which he had thoroughly acquired 
would have passed away with his youth, and 
been of no service. He went to school, but 
on leaving became his own teacher and an assid- 
uous scholar. He was thus the better prepared, 
through the vigor which exercise gave to his 
mind, to make the best use of the information he 
had received. His character, too, through his 
enlightened and sound judgment, became decided 
and firm. He acquired energy, and understood 
the right way in which it was to be employed. 
But for such early labors he had never been the 
discoverer of the " New World." 

And his merit was the greater, because this 
improvement of the rudiments of knowledge was 
prosecuted in the midst of the toilsome activities 
of the profession on which he had resolved to 
enter, and in which he won such solid and abiding 
renown. He was only fourteen when he left the 
university and commenced his nautical career. 
Of this portion of his history few particulars have 



22 COLUMBUS. 

been recorded. It is said that he first embarked 
with a bold and hardy captain bearing the same 
family name, and ^vho was distinguished for his 
bravery. The sea, even in the enclosed Mediter- 
ranean, had not the safety which navigators now 
experience. Piracy was so common as almost to 
be regarded as lawful : those, therefore, who were 
engaged in pursuits peaceful in their real charac- 
ter, were obliged always to be prepared to defend 
themselves against those hostile attacks, which 
were so frequent as to furnish subjects of regular 
expectation. The Mohammedans, especially, were 
both powerful and enterprising. Discipline and 
courage were therefore almost as necessary in 
trading-vessels as in ships purposely equipped for 
war. It Avas a rugged school in which Columbus, 
when scarcely emerged from boyhood, had to 
learn the duties of a seaman ; but he profited 
greatly from the experience thus afforded. 

His first recorded voyage was in a naval expe- 
dition fitted out, in 1459, by the Duke of Cala- 
bria, for the purpose of attacking the kingdom of 



BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 23 

Naples. Genoa contributed both ships and money, 
and many private adventurers were engaged. Old 
Columbo was among them, and had the command 
of a squadron. Columbus sailed with him. The 
services of the expedition occupied four years. 
In the course of it Columbus is believed to have 
distinguished himself, though the particulars have 
not been transmitted to later times. This is in- 
ferred from his appointment, later, to a separate 
command.' He was sent to the port of Tunis, to 
cut out a galley which had anchored there ; and 
he performed this duty with great resolution and 
complete success. 

Of several years of his life, after this expedi- 
tion, there are left only very general accounts. 
He was chiefly employed in the Mediterranean, 
then the great water-field both of commerce and 
naval warfare. One anecdote has been narrated 
by his son Fernando. He was sailing with a-, 
nephew of his old captain, himself a furious cor- 
sair, so noted for his bold deeds that the Moham- 
medan mothers of northern Africa used to en- 



24 COLUMBUS. 

deavor to terrify their children, when unruly, by 
employing his name. On one occasion he laid 
wait for four richly-laden Venetian galleys return- 
ing from Flanders, lie fell in with them on tJie 
coast of Portugal, between Cape St. Vincent and 
Lisbon. The attack and defence were conducted 
with bravery and vigor, and many lives were 
lost. The ships grappled with each other, and 
the sailors fought man to man. The vessel in 
which Columbus had sailed was engaged with a 
very large Venetian one. The combustible mis- 
siles that were employed set the galley on fire. 
The vessels had been lashed together for the com- 
bat; and, as they could not be separated, both 
Avere soon wrapped in flames. The crew threw 
themselves into the water, and swam for their 
lives, though the shore was several miles distant. 
Columbus, who was among them, saw an oar 
floating near him, probably one of the large ones 
employed by the galley-rowers : he seized it, and 
by resting upon it increased his own buoyancy ; 
and as he was an able swimmer, he stood before 



BIKTH AJS^D EARLY LIFE. 



25 



long, though almost exhausted, upon dry land. 
Recovering from his fatigue, he proceeded to Lis- 
bon, where he safely arrived. Some of his histo- 
rians supposed that this was his first visit to the 
Portuguese capital; but more accurate research 
by later writers has cast doubt on the statement. 
Washington Irving, on the whole, concludes that 
his going to Lisbon at first "was not the fortuitous 
result of desperate adventure, but proceeded from 
a spirit of liberal curiosity; and in the pursuit of 
honorable fortune," at a place which, at that time, 
afforded " ample attractions for a person of his in- 
clinations and pursuits." 




CHAPTER 11. 



EAELY :MANH00D. 



IT was about the year 1470 that Columbus ar- 
rived in Portugal, being then about thirty-five 
years of age. Washington Irving, who had thor- 
oughly studied the minute descriptions of him 
given by his contemporaries, and combined the 
scattered notices into what appears to be a natural 
and harmonious result, thus presents it : *• He was 
tall, well-formed, and muscular, and of an ele- 
vated and dignified demeanor. His visage was 
long, and neither full nor meagre ; his complexion 
fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy ; his nose 
aquiline ; his cheek-bones were rather high ; his 
eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle ; his whole 
couuteuanee had an air of authority. His hair, 

26 



EAKLY MANHOOD. 29 

in his youthful days, was of a liglit color, but 
care and trouble soon turned it to gray, and at 
thirty years of age it was quite white. He was 
moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent 
in discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, 
and of an amiableness and suavity in domestic 
life that strongly attached his household to his 
person. His temper was naturally irritable ; but 
he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirit, 
comporting himself with a courteous and gentle 
gravity, and never indulging in any intemperance 
of language. Throughout his life he was noted 
for a strict attention to the offices of religion ; nor 
did his piety consist in mere forms, but partook 
of that lofty and solemn enthusiasm with which 
his whole character was strongly tinctured." 

While residing at Lisbon, he became acquainted 
with the family of Bartolomeo Moilis de Pales- 
trello, an Italian cavalier, who had died a short 
time previously. Palestrello was one of those dis- 
tinguished navigators whom Prince Henry de- 
lighted to call around him and to employ. He 



30 COLUMBUS. 

had, under his auspices, colonized and governed 
the island of Porto Santo, about forty miles to 
the north-east of Madeira. He had left a daugh- 
ter, Dona Felipa, to whom Columbus became at- 
tached, and whom he soon afterwards married. 
That Felipa de Palestrello, though a lady of rank, 
had no fortune, would seem to indicate that the 
union was entirely one of affection. 

At all events, his connection with the family 
of the deceased navigator was in perfect agree- 
ment witli all his own habits of thought and feel- 
ing, and contributed powerfully to lead him on- 
ward in the path he had chosen for himself. On 
his marriage, he became an inmate of the house 
in which his wife had hitherto resided with her 
mother. The widow perceived the strong interest 
which he took in nautical affairs, and in their 
family conversations related to him all that she 
knew of the voyages and expeditions of her hus- 
band. She likewise put into his hands the papers 
which had been left her ; and thus Columbus was 
enabled to collect the valuable and stirring infer- 



EARLY MANHOOD. 31 

mation which he would find in the charts, journals, 
and other manuscripts of Palestrello. To us who 
know the subsequent history of the great naviga- 
tor, these domestic colloquies assume a very inter- 
esting character. 

The life of Columbus had hitherto been rough 
as well as active, and we see him with pleasure at 
repose in the bosom of a family every way adapted 
to his tastes and principles. He had anchored, 
after a boisterous voyage, in a pleasant harbor, 
but with the evident purpose of refitting his ves- 
sel, and preparing again to put to sea. He pur- 
sued his studies, he drew maps and charts for the 
purpose of contributing to the support of his 
family, and sailed once or twice to the coast of 
Guinea. The famil}^ removed, also, for a period 
to Porto Santo, where Palestrello had been gover- 
nor, and where his wife liad inherited some small 
property. It was in tliis island that his son, 
Diego, was born. In this almost barren spot, 
chiefly composed of basalt rock, the highest emi- 
nence being not more than five hundred feet, 



82 COLUMBUS. 

there would not be the confusion which so easily 
distracts the attention in a sea-port metropolis. 
Is it too much to suppose that here, ascending to 
the summit of the rocky hill behind the town, 
lie would gaze on the vast expanse of ocean 
spreading westward, and ruminate on what might 
possibly be beyond the waves that rolled before 
him? 

In 1474, the scheme of voyaging to India by 
sailing directly westward appears to have been 
fully formed in his mind ; but it must previously 
have often occupied his active and anxious 
thoughts. A sister of his wife was married to 
another of Prince Henry's navigators, Pedro 
Coreo, who also had at one time been governor of 
Porto Santo. With him, we may be well assured, 
conversations would frequently be held on sub- 
jects which, not only were generally exciting in 
society at large, but which moved his own mind 
with such especial force. Already enough was 
known to fan the flame which was now enkindled. 
Imagination invested India with wealth and mag- 



EARLY MANHOOD. 33 

nificence, and with all the wonders of an un- 
known region ; and who could tell what other 
regions, not less wealth}^, not less wonderful, 
awaited the discoveries of science, skill, and cour- 
age? The dream of Plato, respecting the island 
Atalantis, far away in the Western Ocean, had 
been revived ; and, especially among sailors, ru- 
mors were afloat, often far more exciting than 
real. With none of these would Columbus 
be unacquainted ; and even his well-balanced 
mind could not fail to be moved by them. But 
he was too thoughtful to be governed by what 
was only rumor ; he was only stimulated by it to 
more extensive research and more diligent study. 
The grand object was the discovery of such a 
route to India as might be safe to navigators and 
profitable to commerce; and by all but himself 
the direction in which this route was sought was 
by the circumnavigation of Africa : he conceived 
the idea, which ultimately produced the uncon- 
querable resolution to work it out in practice, of 
turning from the difficult and dangerous coasting- 



34 COLUMBUS. 

voyage around a continent only partially known, 
and directing his daring course to tlie west, seek- 
ing to cross the ocean only known by the waves 
which dashed upon its eastern shores. 

We cannot dismiss the idea that Columbus, at 
Porto Santo, formed his great resolution. Stand- 
ing on its highest ground, and looking eastward, 
he would know that before him, from north to 
south, vast continents stretched, teeming with in- 
habitants. Carrying his thoughts still onward, 
the existence of the Indian regions was a well- 
known fact, and of India the eastern limits were 
unknown ; no geographer had drawn, from certain 
knowledge, the farthest sea-board line. Turning 
to the west, where nothing but the ever-rolling 
waves met his view, and sea and sky seemed to 
meet on the distant horizon, would he not ask 
himself. How near does farthest India approach 
that line ? He knew it to be the limit of Euro- 
pean knowledge ; but he also knew that it was no 
barrier to them who would boldly hold on their 
course to the far west; and why might not he 



EAKLY MANHOOD. 



35 



thus arrive with greater speed and safety, at the 
far east ? Such, at all events, was the great idea 
on which his mind was brooding, when, after two 
or three years, Ave find him again at Lisbon. 




CHAPTER III. 

BELIEF THAT LAND EXISTED IX THE TTEST. 

COMING events oast their sbado^ys before." 
Seldom does any great occiUTenee break 
on the unprepared minds of men A^-itll astounding 
abruptness. Unformed opinions begin to assume 
shape, and rumors multiply and thicken, till ex- 
pectation stands on tiptoe and looks for a some- 
thiui^ anticipated, but unknown. Long before the 
sho>yers come down, the invisible vapor lias been 
ascending, the atmosphere, surcharged, becomes 
hazy; -Nvhile clouds small as the human hand 
begin to appear, and, by-and-by. unite to cover the 
heavens Avith blackness, and there is the sound as 
of abundance of rain. 

Even among the ancients there had been vague 

36 



BELIEF THAT LAND EXISTED IN THE \VEST. 37 

suppositions of land far away over tlio western 
ocean. And when the true form of the earth liad 
been ascertained, the geographers liad endeavored 
to collect all that could be gathered from both 
fact and rumor to complete the map of the globe. 
Columbus had studied both the theories of the 
ancients and the systems of modern geographers. 
Of the three hundred and sixty degrees of the 
earth's equatorial circumference, he reckoned that 
two hundred and twenty-hye (iiftecu hours) had 
been known even to the early geographers, and 
that fifteen nu^re, in all two hundred and forty, 
had been added by the discovery of the Azores 
and Cape de Verde Islands. From these, east- 
ward, two-thirds of the circumference were known. 
One-third, from the farthest known westward 
point to that, by joining which the circle would 
be completed, remained yet to be explored. Pie 
thought that the unknown parts of Asia might ex- 
tend farther to the east, and thus considerably 
curtail the distance over which it was necessary 
to pass. The Arabian geographers reckoned the 



38 COLUMBUS. 

degree to be much smaller than was usually 
thought by others ; and the opinion appears to 
have been embraced by Columbus. The real dis- 
tance therefore, would be, comparatively, not so 
very great, and land might be discovered lying 
much nearer to Europe than was commonly imag- 
ined. There was nothing, in the estimation of 
Columbus, which might not be accomplished by 
science and skill united to vigilance and courage. 
Such seem to have been his opinions in 1474. 
He communicated them in a letter addressed to a 
friendly correspondent at Florence, Paolo Tos- 
canelli, a learned and inquiring Italian cosmog- 
rapher. Toscanelli, in reply, afforded him all 
the information he could give, chiefly derived from 
the narrative of Marco Polo, a Venetian, who, in 
the preceding century had travelled into the re- 
motest parts of Asia, ascertaining much, and, by 
magnifying the distance actually travelled, — 
which in the countries and times of slow travel- 
ling, might very easily, and with no bad intention, 
be done, — conjecturing more. Beyond the ex- 



BELIEF THAT LAND EXISTED IN THE WEST. 39 

tremity of the Asiatic continent he described cer- 
tain islands still farther to the eastward abounding 
in marvels and wealth. Toscanelli encouraged 
Columbus in his purpose of seeking India by sail- 
ing to the west ; and calculated that, from Lisbon 
to these Oriental islands, the distance could not 
be more than four thousand miles; a sixth, in- 
stead of a third of the earth's circumference. 

Nor did the adventurous but cautious and in- 
quiring navigator neglect to gather all the facts 
and rumors within his reach, extracting from them 
whatever information they might supply. He 
conversed with veteran navigators and with those 
inhabitants of the recently discovered islands to 
the west whom he chanced to meet. He heard of 
nothing adverse to his conjectures; and much 
that in several ways confirmed them. An inhabi- 
tant of Madeira told him that he had once sailed 
a hundred leagues to the west, and had seen there 
islands in the distance. Another told him that 
once in a voyage to Ireland, he had seen land to 
the westward. These were, indeed, groundless 



40 COLUMBrS. 

minors ; but there Trere facts 'wliieh strengthened 
the suppositions to which thev gave rise. A pilot 
in the service of the King of Portugal told him 
that at the distance of four hundred and fifty 
leagues from Cape St. Vincent, he had found float- 
ing in the water, a piece of carved wood, in the 
shaping of which it was plain that iron had not 
been emploved. His brother-in-law, Pedro Correo, 
also told liim that a similar piece of wood had 
di'ifted from the same quarter on the shore of 
Porto Santo. He had also heard from the King 
of Portugal that reeds of an immense size had 
been washed on the same island, evidently from 
the west. Wosrerlv AWnds had brousfht floatinsr 
to the Azores large pine-trees, such as were not to 
be foiuid in those islands. 

But perhaps the most remarkable circumstance 
was, as stated to him bv some of the inhabitants, 
that on the island of Flores, one of the most wes- 
terly of the Azores, the bodies of two men differ- 
ent from any known race, had been cast by the 
waves. Everything seemed to tell of vegetation 



BELIEF THAT LAND EXISTED IX THE AVEST. 41 

and inhabitants and, thoreforo, land in the far 
west. By investigation and study, thoreforo, as 
complete as cironmstanoos alUnvod, his theory be- 
eanio llxod. And ah^ng whh it was mixed a 
stronir religions feelinir. The nnknown inhabit- 
ants of those nndisoovered regions were men, 
hnnian beings like himself, owing their existence 
to the same Creator : bnt not, like himself, in- 
structed in Ilis knowledge and fear. His worship 
and service. Little Avas known of the countries 
of the east; but that little presented the people, 
A^ath the exception of one nation that was re- 
ported to be Christian, as altogether devoted to 
idolatry. Among the studios of Columbus, the 
ancient prophecies of Holy AVrit wore in some 
degree, at least, included : and these spoke of the 
ends of the earth as being brought to see the sal- 
vation of God. He desired not loss the extension 
of his own faith than the enlargement of geograph- 
ical knowledge and the improvement of science. 
His Avere not the wild schemes of the daring and 
reckless adventurer. They resulted fi'om wide 



42 COLUMBUS. 

examination and profound thought, which, sanc- 
tified by religion, animated him with a noble 
enthusiasm, self-possession, and dignitj^ Although 
of humble station, he stood upright even in the 
presence of crowned heads. Loftier conceptions 
and designs were never cherished by mortal man. 
And they were his own. His calculations were 
based on facts attainable by all ; but he alone had 
the patient industry to collect and arrange them, 
the capacity and poAver to embrace their vast re- 
sults. 

The conditions he proposed when his plans were 
formed and he was ready to enter upon his stupen- 
dous task, disclosed the strength of his mind. He 
was to take his place among the highest of Euro- 
pean subjects, winning for himself the patent of 
a nobility, in the splendor of which, that of ances- 
try would pale, as the moon is dimmed by the 
brightness of the fully-risen sun. The supremacy 
of the sovereign who would enable him to accom- 
plish his stupendous task he would readily ac- 
knowledge ; but as viceroy of the lands he dis- 



BELIEF THAT LAND EXISTED IN THE WEST. 43 

covered, only to the monarch to whose dominions 
he brought such marvellous annexations would he 
be the subject. If ever man toiled to the summit 
of human greatness by a path marked out from 
the first by himself, tliat man was Christopher 
Columbus. 




CHAPTER IV, 

EVENTS RELATIVE TO DISCOVERY. 

THE enthusiasm of Columbus was as enlight- 
ened as it was grand. The sublimity of his 
conceptions as to the future, produced no negli- 
gence as to subordinate and present duties. Con- 
templating at least the commencement of the final 
exploration of the world, he attended with dili- 
gence to the concerns of his family. We have 
seen that he employed his geographical knowledge 
in the construction of maps and charts, which he 
sold to provide means for his domestic expendi- 
ture ; and, limited as these means were, it is de- 
lightful to see them so employed as to exhibit the 
future discoverer of the New World as the dutiful 
son and the affectionate brother. He contributed 

44 



EVENTS RELATIVE TO DISCOVERY. 45 

to the support of his aged father at Genoa, and 
to the education of his younger brothers. He 
sought employment as a navigator ; and, not only 
sailed more than once to the coast of Guinea, but 
voyaged into the northern seas, visiting Iceland, 
probably the '^ Ultima Thule " of the ancients ; 
the difference between its actual position and that 
which they assigned to it, being easily explained 
by the scantiness and obscurity of their geograph- 
ical knowledge. All the while the great idea was 
brooding in his mind, acquiring form in his imagi- 
nation, and taking faster hold on his judgment ; 
but its progress towards action was slow. From 
without he had no encouragement; for anything 
he knew, his was the only mind in which dwelt so 
noble a thought. Nor was this by any means the 
smallest obstacle which he had to surmount. He 
was a poor man and could not command a vessel 
in which to sail on his own account, in directions 
known to all. How was he to be enabled to fit 
out several, for such an expedition as that which 
he contemplated? Less than the patronage of 



46 coLUMBrs, 

soTereign power would not suffice for the expense 
of the preparations, and for giviiig him the influ- 
ence necessarr to persuade a sufficient number of 
able and experienced seamen to accompaiiT him in 
so hazardous, and, in some respects, so alarming 
an undertaking. An ordinary mind would long 
before have banislied the conception, or only ad- 
verted to it in the day-dreamings of an indolent 
leisure. Xot such a mind was his. He believed 
the idea to be practicable, he cherished the hope 
of finding it to be so, and resolved to seek and 
aT\-ait the opportunity of proving that it was so, to 
the whole world. But he waited not in idleness. 
He was gradually forming his plans. When they 
were matured and ready for execution, the Provi- 
dence under whose secret movements he had been 
inwardly acting, prepared the way for liim to com- 
mence the proceedings from which such vast re- 
sults have already issued, and are still continuing 
to issue. 

In l-iSl, John II.. gi*and-nephew of Prince 
Henrv ascended the PortUiruese thi\>ne. The 



EVENTS RELATIVE TO DISCOVERY. 47 

cause of discovery had long been languishing, 
though along the coasts of Africa there was a 
slow advancement. lUit with the accession of 
elolm came a revival of enterprise. The age was 
more active. Printing had been discovered, books 
had begun to issue from the press, and the com- 
munication from mind to mind of whatever knowl- 
edge mieht be acquired was thns made more cer- 
tain, rapid, and extensive. Knowledge became 
common property : all who possessed, or thought 
thcv possessed any, felt that they could impart it 
easily, and the many were invited io receive their 
share. The general stagnancy of the human intel- 
lect had passed away never to return; and igno- 
rance, by becoming avoidable, had become crimi- 
nal. A passion for foreign research, similar to 
that which had governed his uncle, influenced 
.John. India was no longer a country beyond 
European reach ; and the accounts received from 
it, true, exaggerated, or fabulous, in a mind like 
that of John, aroused curiosity and stimulated 
research. EiU'iiestly desirous of opening India 



48 coLUMBrs. 

more fiillv to Portuguese exploration he sum- 
moned around liim men of science^ especially 
those who were eminent in geography ; and sought 
from them the means of greater certainty in navi- 
gation. 

One result of their investigations was the ap- 
plication of the astrolabe — the instrument by 
which the altitudes and anq-ular distances of the 
heavenly bodies, visible, particularly during the 
night, on the concave hemisphere, were measured 
— to the purposes of the voyager. This has since 
been reduced to the modern quadrant ; but its 
most important advantages were from the fii^st se- 
ciu'ed. The navio^ator was enabled, thouo-h in the 
beginning somewhat roughly, to measure his pro- 
gress through the pathless ocean, by observing the 
apparent alterations of altitude, distance, and 
position among planets and stars. This, together 
with the compass, made it safe to voyage out of 
sight of liitherto limiting landmarks. The com- 
pass exhibited the direction in which the vessel 
was sailing, while the astrolabe enabled the hardy 



EVENTS EELATIYE TO DISCOYEBY. 49 

mariner to sail by the sky-marks presented by the 
lofty heavens above him. 

The hazard which had thus been the greatest 
obstacle in tlie way of Columbus seemed now to 
be removed ; and knowing the wishes of the Por- 
tuguese sovereign he resolved to apply to him. 
And never was there a more connnanding proof of 
tlie validity of the moral axiom that ^» honesty is 
the best of policy," than Avas exhibited by the re- 
salt of the application of Columbus to the king 
of Portugal. A piece of real trickery prevented 
him from placing in his crown a jewel richer than 
any which adorned it. The proposal was referred 
by the monarch to three of the most learned of 
his councillors ; one of them a bishop, and his 
confessor. By them it was represented as vision- 
ary ; but it was too much in accordance with the 
feelings of John to be easily renounced. He 
therefore convoked a larger assembly, and de- 
manded a full discussion of the question. The 
opinion of Cazadilla, the bishop, prevailed here, 
as it had done before, and the king was advised to 



50 COLUMBUS. 

dismiss Columbus. Cazaclilla, however, saw that 
John was not satisfied ; and craftily suggested a 
plan by which some trial might be given to the 
proposal of Columbus, without committing the 
dignity of the crown to that which might be no 
better than an idle dream. As if to assist them in 
their deliberations, they procured from Columbus 
so much information as was sufficient for their 
purpose. Holding him in suspense as to their 
ultimate decision, orders were sent to the Cape de 
Verde Islands for a small vessel to pursue for 
some distance the intended route of the skilled 
and courageous navigator. The vessel left the 
islands and sailed to the westward for several 
days. The weather then became stormy, and the 
wild rolling and tossing of the mighty billows, 
lashed by the winds into fury, every hour in- 
creasinor, so terrified both master and crew, that 
they retraced their way, and rejoiced to find them- 
selves in safety at the place they had not long be- 
fore left. They then proceeded to Lisbon, and 
what with their fears, and what with their desire 




liiiiM^^^^^^^ 



EVENTS RELATIVE TO DISCOVERT. 53 

to excuse themselves, and prove that they had 
done right in desisting from their onward course, 
they so magnified the perils to which they said 
they had been exposed, that Cazadilla proceeded 
in triumph to the king with this decisive confir- 
mation of his former opinion. 

But this conduct could not be concealed from 
Columbus. Firmly believing the correctness of 
his opinions, he was indignant that such an ineffi- 
cient method of demonstrating their impractica- 
bility had been employed. He became still more 
indignant when he learned that the method in- 
volved an attempt to cheat him out of the honor 
and benefits which, if attainable, properly be- 
longed to himself. Besides, his circumstances 
had become painfully embarrassing. His private 
studies had interfered with his plans for obtain- 
ing a livelihood ; his wife was dead, leaving 
him a widower, with his son Diego, then a mere 
child. Portugal had now no hold on him ; and 
not even some disposition said to be manifested 
on the part of John to renew the negotiation 



64 COLUMBUS. 

could induce him to continue there. Taking Die- 
go with him, toward the close of 1484, he departed 
from PortugaL Thus its unwise monarch lost 
for ever the opportunity of securing the object of 
his strongest desires, — an object, unlike most of 
those on which human desires are generally fixed, 
proving eventually to be far more splendid in its 
realization than in its first conception. 

This portion of the history of Columbus may 
well be closed by tracing — it is all that can be 
done — the little more than traditionary recol- 
lections which are apparent in the cloud that 
hangs over the following year. It is said that 
from Lisbon he proceeded to Genoa, Avhere he re- 
newed his applications, and, being unsuccessful, 
thence to Venice, wiiere he was also disappointed ; 
and from like causes in both instances. Both 
republics were in a declining and critical state, 
and had not the spirit, nor the ability, to comply 
with the proposals that were made to them. At 
Genoa, his father was still living ; and for him, in 
his extreme age, he made such provision as his 



EVENTS EELATIVE TO DISCOVERY. 



55 



circumstances allowed. About the same time, he 
is believed to have sent his brother Bartolomeo to 
England, to endeavor to engage Henry VII., then 
renowned throughout Europe for his opulence 
and prudence ; but wlio seems to have been too 
prudent to hazard the expense where the gain 
was not certain. The great man of his age then 
disappears altogether from view, and is seen again 
when emerging from the darkness of the cloud 
that overshadowed him. 




•CHAPTER V. 

FIEST AEEITAL OF COLTJ]MBrS IN SPAIN. 

THE soutliern boundary of Portugal is a 
coast-line, extending about two degrees to 
the eastward of Cape St. Vincent. The coast 
then inclines to the South-east, towards the Straits 
of Gibraltar ; Cadiz being distant about sixty 
miles, on what, in the maps, is the obtuse angle 
thus formed. Twenty or twenty-five miles from 
the Portuguese boundary, there is a small sea- 
port, Palos de Moguer, in Andalusia, inhabited, at 
the time to which we now refer, chiefly by a fish- 
ing, and so far a maritime population. A short 
distance from Palos, on a solitary height overlook- 
ing the sea-coast, there stood (and still stands) an 
ancient Franciscan convent, dedicated to Santa 

56 



FIKST ARRIVAL IX SPAIN. 57 

Maria do Rabida. In those days and countries, 
the distribution of alms at the gate of convents 
was a reguhxr practice. Wliether tliis vas tlio 
best way of supplying the vants of the poor, ac- 
cording to the principles of a correct political 
economy, is a question with which we have hero 
nothing to do. It might be an erroneous pro- 
ceeding, and connected with errors in religious 
doctrine, but it was designed to be an expression 
of Christian compassion. If, sometimes, the idle 
and dishonest shared in the bounty Avhich was 
neither provided nor intended for them, so that 
sloth and a dependent mendicancy Avere encoiu-- 
aged, still, on the other hand, many of the honest 
poor received needed assistance, and the blessings 
of many that were ready to perish came upon 
these distributors, whose meaning Avas good, 
whether the practice Avas Avise or not. 

One day, toAA'ards the latter end of the year 
1485, a stranger, evidently a foreigner, meanly 
clad, but of superior manners; on foot, accompan- 
ied by a young boy, applied at the gate of the 



58 COLUMBUS. 

convent for alms to assist him on his journey. It 
was Christopher Columbus with his son Diego, so 
reduced as to be obliged to seek eleemosynary aid. 
He was on his way to Huelvos, to seek there a 
brother of his deceased wife. His circumstances 
were now at the lowest ebb ; but from this mo- 
ment the tide turned, though for some time the 
advance of the waters seemed imperceptible. 
While receiving from the porter the humble re- 
freshment of a little bread and water, the guardian 
of the convent. Friar Juan Perez de Marchena, 
happened to pass by, and, struck with the appear- 
ance of the stranger, entered into conversation 
with him. The friar was an intelligent man, and 
had addicted himself to geograjDhical and nautical 
studies. In the course of the conversation, Co- 
lumbus stated his convictions, as well as the plans 
he had formed in his own mind. So impressed 
was he with the grandeur of the views which were 
opened before him, that he invited the friendless, 
and now almost hopeless stranger to become his 
guest. He likewise sent for one of his scientific 



FIRST ARRIVAL IN SPAIN. 59 

friends, Garria Fernandez, a physician of Palos, 
to join in the conversations in which he abeady 
felt so deep an interest. 

It would be a noble picture, which should rep- 
resent these three persons sitting together in one 
of the rooms of the convent : Columbus, with the 
earnestness of one who believed himself, and with 
the seriousness of one who saw inwardly a pros- 
pect before him of such extent and magnificence, 
yet with that mixture of despondency which so 
many disappointments, together with his own in- 
creasing years, could not but have produced ; yet 
seizing on the present unexpected opportunity, 
which might be liis last, of impressing his own 
convictions on the minds of others. His new 
friends listening with attention, with admiration, 
and gradually perceiving that the project, splen- 
did as it was, and beyond the limits of present 
experience, Avas yet capable of realization, they 
were both convinced, and became, from that mo- 
ment, his humble but indefatigable coadjutors. 
The three might almost be termed the first com- 



60 COLITMBUS. 

mittee for the discovery of lands beyond the 
western Atlantic. They were not content with 
theory. They inquired into fact. They called 
before them the hardy veterans of the fishing-port, 
from whom they learned various circumstances ; 
an explanation of which seemed to require the 
existence of inhabited countries to the west. 
Soon the committee added an important member 
to its numbers. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, residing 
at Palos, the head of a family of rich and enter- 
prising navigators, and one of the most intelligent 
sea-captains of the day. After listening to the 
details of the plan of Columbus, he became so 
thoroughly his disciple, that he not only offered 
to share in the expenses of the undertaking, but 
in the undertaking itself. 

And very important was the issue of their nu- 
merous conversations. The friar earnestly recom- 
mended Columbus to repair to the court of the 
Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, and 
to lay his plans before them. Without their pat- 
ronage ancj aid it was felt that a voyage, promis- 



FIKST AKRIYAL IN SPAIN. 61 

ing such noble issues, but in many respects so 
mysterious and so perilous, could not be under- 
taken. Pinzon engaged to furnish money for the 
journey to court;/ and the friar, promising to 
take care of young Diego during the absence of 
his father, and to attend to his education, offered 
him a letter of recommendation to a friend of his 
own, Fernando de Talavera, prior of the convent 
of Prado, and confessor to the queen. Through 
his influence, which the letter earnestly besought, 
it was thought that access to the royal personages 
might be secured. 

On what apparently trifling circumstances do 
great events sometimes depend ! Occurrences 
seemingly so casual, tliat, in describing them, the 
customary phrase, happened^ is almost naturally 
employed, eventually prove to be the first steps in 
a progress which strikes nations with astonish- 
ment, and gives a new direction to the history of 
the world. He who had never seen the rising- 
sun, could he, from the most equivocal diminution 
of darkness in the earliest dawn, anticipate the 



62 COLUMBUS. 

full brightness of day ? He who had never seen 
the spreading oak, nor reflected on the powers of 
germination in the seed, could he from the iirst 
visible acorn-shoots anticipate the full-grown tree, 
trunk, branches, and leaves ? It is not for us to 
condemn the day of small and feeble things. The 
Creator and Lord of all does not despise them. 
The gradual development of small beginnings 
into vast results is a leading characteristic of the 
administration of the Almiohtv, who hath set His 
throne in the heavens, and whose kingdom ruleth 
over all. A poor and friendless traveller, with 
his young child, applies at a convent-gate for a 
little bread and water; and while partaking of 
this simple meal, one of the superiors of the es- 
tablishment thus kindly aiding the wayfarers 
happens to come by, liajjpens to be struck with 
the appearance of the mendicant, happens to enter 
into conversation with him ! And he, concerning 
whose conduct all these "happens"' liave to be 
said, likewise happened to be the man wliose pre- 
vious studies had prepared him for the conversa- 



FIRST ARRIVAL IN SPAIN. 63 

tion, JiapppMed to be tlic man whose recommen- 
dation to an influential friend was to be the 
means of securing the attention of royalty ! 
Ceaseless is the reign of God, and " all things 
serve His sovereign will." His "never-failing 
providence ordereth all things in heaven and 
earth." Fitting is it, therefore, tliat we trust in 
Him and do good, even though He permit us 
for a time to walk in darkness and have no light. 
Every encouragement have we that our unbeliev- 
ing hearts can require to " cast all our care upon 
God, who careth for us." 

" Commit thou all thy griefs 

And ways into Uis hands, 
To His sure truth and tender care, 

Who heaven and earth commands. 

Who points the clouds their course, 

Whom winds and seas ohey. 
He shall direct thy wandering feet, 

He shall prepare thy way. 

Leave to His sovereign sway 

To choose and to command ; 
So shalt thou, wondering, own His way, 

How wise, how strong His hand. 



64 



COLUMBUS. 



Far, far above thy thought 

His counsel shall appear, 
When fully He the work hath Trrought 

That caused thy needless fear!" 

Hope had once more Tisited the mind of 
Columbus ; and, cheered by the kindness of his 
new friends, as well as encouraged by their sup- 
port, in the spring of 1486 he left the hospitable 
convent of Palos to solicit the monarchs of Spain 
to add a new world to their dominions. 




CHAPTER VI. 

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 

FERDINAND and Isabella were now fully 
engaged in their plans for removing from 
Spain the last vestiges of the Mohammedan dom- 
ination. And while they relaxed in neither 
effort nor preparation, they were buoyant in the 
prospect of rapidly approaching and final success. 
They had not long before fixed their court at 
Cordova, that they might be nearer to Granada, 
the conquest of which they now believed to be 
certain. King and Queen of Castile and Ara- 
gon, if Granada were conquered, for the first time 
since the days of Roderic the Goth, all Spain 
would be the undivided heritage of their succes- 
sor. Ferdinand was, in many respects, much 



66 COLUMBUS. 

like Henry VII. Prudent to craftiness, ever- 
mindful of his own interests, and easily accessible 
when these were likel}' to be promoted ; atten- 
tive to business, and bigoted in religion, — his 
character in its several aspects, has been abl}', 
and with great brevity, given b}^ Washington 
Irving ; " He was called the wise and prudent in 
Spain ; in Italy, the pious ; in France and Eng- 
land, the ambitious and the perfidious." 

The character of Isabella was different. She 
was beautiful and dignified in her person and 
manners, pious, richly endowed in mind, and 
regarded her husband with strong affection. In 
his general policy she agreed with him ; but her 
views were more lofty, and her desire was 
stronger for the improvement and well-being of 
her subjects. Her prudence was without craft, 
and her ambition unselfish. Literature and the 
arts she patronized ; and, as she was able, wil- 
lingly employed her power for the promotion of 
knowledge. Few female sovereigns have ever 
exhibited a character of more complete loveliness, 



FEEDINAND AND ISABELLA. 67 

or left for the recording pen of history more 
decided proofs of a desire, wise, strong, and 
unfailing, for the welfare of her subjects, than 
the royal Isabella of Castile. The good she did 
was from herself, springing from her genuine 
benevolence. The mischief resulting from some 
of her proceedings was occasioned either by the 
mistakes of the age, or by the sad errors of her 
creed. 

The period of the appearance of Columbus at 
the court of Ferdinand and IsabeHa was not 
favorable to his immediate success. The city 
was all alive with the bustle of military prepar- 
ation. Spain was on the tiptoe of expectation ; 
and the prospect of early success made every 
Spaniard anxious to comply with the wishes of 
the sovereigns, and to hasten to join their stan- 
dard. Cordova resembled a splendid camp. 
One subject engrossed all classes. All were wait- 
ing for the opening of the campaign which was, 
it was hoped, to free tlie Spanish soil from the 
footsteps of the infidel invaders. The war was 



68 COLUMBUS. 

a species of crusade, and even ecclesiastics be- 
lieved it to be their duty to engage in it. Tala- 
vera was one of the clerical advisors of the queen, 
and was so occupied with these public duties 
that he had no leisure to attend to the applica- 
tions of Columbus, or conld give them only that 
superficial regard in which they would seem alto- 
gether visionary. Foreign discovery was, indeed, 
an exciting subject ; but such was the character 
of the discoveries proposed by Columbus, that 
they required the close examination of principles, 
and attention to recondite arguments. 

Ferdinand himself headed the forces he had 
collected ; and Isabella was not only deeply 
interested in all his movements, but during a part 
of the time she was present in the camp. Colum- 
bus, therefore, was still called to the exercise of 
patience. It was one of the qualities of his great 
mind that he knew how to persevere and wait, 
where all might be ruined by undue haste. He 
saw that the proper opportunity had not yet 
arrived ; and, therefore, during the summer and 




THE CARAVEL OF COLUMBUS. 

(Facsimile of a "Wood Engraving of 1493, on a design by Columbus himself.) 



FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 71 

autumn of 1486 lie remained at Cordova, doing 
what he could^ as to do what he would was not 
jet in his power. His few wants he endeavored 
to supply by making maps and charts. 

Now that he thought himself to be on the eve 
of success, it pleased Providence that he should 
be severely tried by discouraging circumstances. 
He was a stranger, and he was poor. For both 
reasons he found it difficult to gain access to 
those whom he wished to number among his 
converts. Few had the knowledge necessary to 
understand the principles on which his scheme 
was based. Among such a society as Cordova 
saw gathered within its walls, there would be 
many who would be likely to turn into ridicule 
the plans of one whom they would be only too 
ready to regard as a wandering adventurer. 
Nor was he even permitted to remain unknown. 
He obtained the reputation with some of being 
a dreaming enthusiast, and with others of being 
a madman ; the very children laughed at him as 
he passed along the streets. Severer moral dis- 



72 COLUJMBUS. 

cipline scarcely ever man passed through ; but 
lie was strong in personal conviction, and lived 
in the serenity of an entire self-possession. He 
exemplified, even in reference to his human con- 
fidence, the operations of a loftier faith; he 
believed, and he did not make haste. He would 
have been more than man had he not felt the 
shafts of ridicule ; but he was unmoved by them. 
Hitherto his reputation had been unshaded ; 
but one circumstance occurred at Cordova, to 
say the least, questionable in its character. A 
mutual attachment was formed between himself 
and Doua Beatriz Enriquez, a lady of a noble 
family in the city. The attachment had not the 
sanction of a formal and public marriage ; but 
the doctrines of the ecclesiastical canonists 
allowed of binding contracts of marriage, and 
marriages private and irregular, but still valid. 
Whether the engagement had this inferior con- 
firmation is not known ; but he himself always 
treated Fernando, his son by this lady, in the 



FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 73 

same way that he treated Diego, his son by his 
former wife. 

The perseverance of Columbus at length 
obtained its reward. Such was the power of 
his address, that when once he could obtain an 
attentive hearer, he seldom failed to secure a 
convert. His patient perseverance itself began 
to outlive ridicule, and to win success. Grad- 
ually an impression was made which slowly 
spread, that perhaps, after all, he was in the 
right. He might be called a visionary by those 
who knew him not ; but those who had inter- 
course with him could not but acknowledge that 
his views were rational. The spreading of the 
light had commenced, and its progress was noAv 
rapid. The controller of the finances of Cas- 
tile, Alonzo de Quintanilla, listened to him, 
became a warm advocate of his plans, and re- 
ceived him as his guest. He was allowed to lay 
his plans before Antonio Giraldini, the papal 
nuncio ; and he, together with his brother, 
Alexander Giraldini, preceptor to the younger 



74 COLTJISIBTTS. 

children of the king and queen, became liis con- 
Yerts. He T\'as by them enabled to take Avhat, 
visibly, was the most important step of all. 
They introduced him io the Archbishop of 
Toledo, Grand Cardinal of Spain, Pedro Gonzalez 
de ^Mendoza, who, from his iniluence \\'ith Fer- 
dinand and Isabella, was sometimes called '' the 
thml King of Spain." He was a man of a strong 
and cnltivated intellect, penetrating and active. 
lie listened to the plans of Columbns, examined 
the arguments by which they were supported, 
and, yielding to conviction, saw at once that, if 
they were indeed well-founded, their importance 
was incalculable. lie felt that an opportunity 
of. acquiring unheard-of renown, if not wealth 
and enqnre, Avas brought within the reach of his 
sovereigns, and that it ought not to be rejected. 

At length, therefore, Columbns obtained what 
he had so anxiously sought, a promise, on Avliich 
he knew he could rely, of an audience with the 
royal personages svlio governed Spain. He be- 
lieved that in this he was able to offer them what 



FEEDINAND AND ISABELLA. 76 

was of greater value than the present object of 
tfjeir most ardent desires. What was a small 
tract of laud in southern Spain to the Indies, a 
new and shorter route to whicli lie promised to 
slir)W theuj, and to those as yet undiscovered 
courjtries in the parts of the world unknowu to 
Europeans, on which he might, if permitted, 
plant the Spaijish standard? Deep, if not some- 
what superstitious, v/as the reverence with which 
sovereigns were, in those times, and especially in 
that country regarded ; but Columbus had so 
long meditated on the discovery of a new world, 
and the completion of the, as yet, imperfect map 
of the globe, that his own mind seemed to have 
dilated to the measure of his vast conceptions. 
Feeling the true greatness of human nature, he 
felt that he could stand erect before kings, and 
present them the worthiest homage they can 
receive ; not the servile adulation of the courtier 
and the slave, but the dignified respect of the 
free rnan. He was admitted to the audience, in 
which all his anxieties were for his cause, none 



76 COLUMBUS. 

for himself. In after days, speaking of this event, 
he said that he felt assistance from above, as an 
instrument for the accomplishment of the designs 
of Providence. By the interview Ferdinand 
was deeply impressed. lie snthciently under- 
stood human nature to perceive that no enthu- 
siastic adventurer stood in his presence. He saw, 
also, that the arguments adduced by Columbus 
were more than plausible ; that they had the 
strongest appearance of truth. And the idea 
of their possible truth being once admitted, his 
Avas precisely the mind to perceive its inestimable 
value. What were the discoveries which had 
shed such lustre on the crown of Portugal to 
those which might now be secured for Spain ? 

But Ferdinand was cautious. He gave ordei*s 
to Fernando de Talavera — to whom Columbus 
had at first been recommended, but from whom 
he only learned, and had yet to learn still more 
painfully, the vanity of human expectations — to 
assemble the learned geographers and astronomers 
of the kinq-dom. Before these Columbus was to 



PETlDrNANI) AND ISAMIOIJ.A. 77 

repeat liis slatoiiicnts Jiiid reasonings, and tlie}^, 
having caret'iilly examined tlie wliole case, were 
to present their report ui)i)]i it. As lie was 
not to appear before ignorant and llii)panl eoni'- 
tiers but belon; grave and learned men, inter- 
ested, in the glories of S(;ienee, as wrM as in the 
honor of the sovereigns and thc^r hingdom, Avluit 
was he to aid,i(Mpaic; i'rom their y(\[)()vl bnt sni)|)()i't 
and encouragement? Alas! again was lie to 
experience disappointment; again was his h)yalty 
to Ids own solemn eonvietions of truth i-o be ])ut 
to a test, whi(;li, as contrasted with the almost 
sanguine hopes lie had thouglit himself justifKid 
in cherishing, would be felt by Inm as the severest 
of all. 



.^ 



CHAPTER VII. 

COLUMBUS SEEKS SPANISH ASSISTANCE. 

THE council of inquiry into the theory and 
proposals of Columbus was appointed to be 
held at Salamanca, at that time considered as the 
principal seat of learning in Spain. The board 
was composed of some of the most learned men 
in the kingdom, civil and ecclesiastical. But the 
low state of science will be remembered, and its 
dependence rather on artificial reasonings than on 
the laws of truth, as ascertained by patient in- 
quiry into fact. Hypothetical theories had not 
yet been dethroned by the "New Organ" of 
philosophising to which, in a subsequent age, 
attention was directed by Bacon. Partisanship in 
science was then as powerful and violent as now 
it is in politics. If Columbus was disappointed 
in the result of their deliberations, the account of 

78 



COLUMBUS SEEKS SPANISH ASSISTANCE. 79 

it will now occasion no surprise. Few came to 
the 'conference without prepossessions ; many 
were strongly influenced by prejudice. Columbus 
stood alone in the comprehensiveness of his views. 
Of his judges, perhaps all were narrow-minded, 
most of them bigoted. Talavera, too, by whom 
they had been convened, had at an earlier period 
neglected Columbus, and justified his neglect by 
the unqualified condemnation of the theory sub- 
mitted to him ; and many others felt their pride 
rebuked, that an obscure mariner should pretend 
to know what their penetration had not discovered. 
But Columbus knew too little of this to be dis- 
mayed by it; or, if it were suspected, he felt 
strong in the truth of his cause. 

But he soon perceived the intrenchments which 
he must carry before he won the day. He was 
met by questions and objections which demon- 
strated that among his hearers there was no 
reigning love of truth for its own sake. Some 
actually denied the possibility of any inhabitants 
at the antipodes, as men could not live with their 



80 COLUMBUS. 

heads downwards ! Some said that the plan was 
impracticable, because too much time would be 
required to sail such a distance as they supposed 
to exist ; and others, that the heat of the torrid 
zone rendered it uninhabitable. Religion, too, 
was introduced. All men, it was said, were 
descended from Adam, and therefore to suppose 
inhabitants where Adam's children could never 
have travelled was to contradict the Bible ! All 
the arguments were of this nature. They partly 
arose, indeed, from imperfect information, and 
this was excusable ; but they were urged with an 
obstinacy totally inconsistent with allegiance to 
truth. The theory of Columbus did not originate 
in speculative hypotheses. It was theory in the 
legitimate sense of the term. Established prin- 
ciples were adduced, facts were collected, and 
the theory was the result of an induction more 
practically correct than any of the instances laid 
down even by Bacon, in connection with his 
" Novum Organum." Had the principle of Bacon 
been as unsound as some of his illustrative in- 



COLUMBUS SEEKS SPANISH ASSISTANCE. 81 

stances, — as his " Inquiry into the Nature of 
Heat," — the inductive philosophy would never 
have removed science from the rule of the Aristo- 
telian logic. 

The fault of these learned men consisted in 
their selfish obstinacy. With admirable patience, 
Columbus submitted to all their interrogatories, 
listened to all their objections ; answered the first, 
and refuted the last. His reply to their arguments 
from Scripture was triumphant. He laid by his 
maps and charts, and descanted on the texts which 
promised such a glorious extension to the Church. 
He spoke, with the zeal of an enlightened mis- 
sionary, of the ends of the earth being commanded 
to look unto God, that they might be saved, and 
of the Divine name being great from the rising 
to the setting sun. His imagination glowed with 
the predicted prosperity of Zion, — predictions, 
the accomplishment of which such objections as 
he had heard would completely prevent, were they 
always to be adopted. Some of his hearers were 
convinced, and among them a learned professor of 



82 COLUMBUS. 

theology at Salamanca, Diego de Deza, wlio after- 
wards became Archbishop of Seville. By his 
means some other learned men were gained ; but 
the bulk were immovable. The board held sev- 
eral consultations among themselves, but came to 
no decision. At length, early in the spring of 
1487, Talavera left Salamanca to join the court, 
and the council broke up, leaving the almost 
worn-out mariner in a state of the most painful 
suspense. 

And in this state he had to spend several years. 
He followed from time to time, the movements 
of the court, and was occasionally flattered with 
hopes of success. He still constructed maps and 
charts for his subsistence, though he was be- 
friended by Diego de Deza, and was also some- 
times a guest with Alonzo de Quintanilla. He 
was permitted, also, to attend the royal suite, and 
small sums were more than once granted for the 
purpose of defraying his expenses. He was be- 
come better known and by many he was much 
respected; so that his circumstances were very 



COLUMBUS SEEKS SPANISH ASSISTANCE. 83 

different from those in which he stood as a men- 
dicant at the gate of the convent of Palos. At 
length, in 1491, he pressed for a decisive reply ; 
but the aspect of affairs was unfavorable. The 
war was not yet concluded, though the sovereigns 
were preparing for what proved to be the final 
campaign. The council were now ordered to 
meet, and give their ultimate report. They did 
so ; and Talavera, in their name, condemned the 
scheme as impracticable, and one unworthy the 
attention of the sovereigns, considering the weak- 
ness of the grounds on which it was professedly 
supported. In communicating this result, how- 
ever, Ferdinand and Isabella informed Columbus 
that they did not finally reject his offer ; but that, 
though the expenses of the war forbade them to 
engage for the present in any new enterprises, at 
its conclusion they would have leisure to re- 
consider the subject. He now gave up all hope 
of obtaining royal patronage, and left the court. 

Thus closed the year 1491, and with it, for that 
time, his dependence on the sovereigns of Spain. 



84 COLFMErS. 

But Tvliither was he to go ? His coiiTictions had 
gathered strength by inTestigation. More firmly 
than ever did he beliere in the existence of un- 
discovered regions ; and more resolved than ever 
w^as he to be, if possible, their discoverer. He 
therefore looked round for pitronage. He had 
favorable information from England and from 
France, and the King of Portugal had requested 
him to return. But he had now domestic ties 
again in Sp\in, and he directed his attention to 
some of the nobles of the country. The Duke of 
Medina-Sidonia listened to him, but thought his 
^-iews weiv too splendid to be true. With the 
Duke of Medina-Celi he Avas for a time more suc- 
cessful. So strongly was he impressed with the 
representations that were made to him, that he at 
length consented to employ a pi^rtion of his gi*eat 
wealth, together with three or four vessels tluit lie 
had ready for sea in Port St. ^lary. situated on 
one of his estates. Befoi*e he had finally deeidetl, 
howovor, he remembered that tlie p^tn^nage he 
was about to accord had been refused by the 



COLIMIUS 8KF.KS SPANISH ASSISTANCE. 85 

court. I'oaring- io c\c\ic tho n>val joalousy, ho 
Avitlulro\v his partially-givou consent, ami a*;ain 
was Columbus disappointed. Ho now ivsolvod 
\\\)on ipiitiiuL;' Spain, and ro]>airin«;- io Paris. For 
this purpose he returned to the eonverit at Tales, 
to remove his son Oie^'o, wliom he intended to 
take to Cordova, leavin^^- him there ^^ith his other 
son, of eoiu'se under the eare of Dofiii Beatriz 
Eiiriquez, a oireumstanee that justitles the hope — 
a very natural one to all who understand the ean- 
onieal law on the subjeet of marriage — that tho 
conueetion was not an illegal one. As the law 
then Avas, a marriage might be formally irregular 
in the judgment of the ehureh, whieh yet was so 
far valid in the judgment of law, as that it would 
have absolutely prevented every other engage- 
nuMit, on the ground ol* pre-eontraet. although the 
issue would not be regarded as legitimate. 

Columbus returned to Palos aj^parently with 
fewer hopes of sueeess than those \\\i\\ whieh he 
had left it for Cordova, in the spring of 14S(> ; and 
alreadv had the vear 140-, the most memorable in 



Ob COLUMBUS. 

the histor}" of his own life, and ever memorable in 
the history of the world, opened upon him. No 
more faithful friend had he than the friar, Juan 
Perez de Marchena, who had at first noticed him 
at his meal of bread and water, the provision of 
Christian charity. Six years had elapsed. Co- 
lumbus had submitted his plans to royalty, and 
had argued them with the learned. All seemed 
to be in vain. He had returned whence he set 
out, for the purpose of making his final arrange- 
ments, and offering to another country the glories 
and advantages which Spain appeared to have 
rejected. The patriotism of the good friar was 
alarmed. To him, the plans of Columbus had be- 
come an incontrovertible fact, and he could not 
bear to tliink that his own country should lose the 
whole of what he deemed to be the certain glory 
and advantage. He persuaded Columbus to delay 
3'et a little longer, while he himself would make a 
final effort. Isabella he knew, as he had been her 
confessor ; and he believed that if the subject 
were laid before her, fully and seriously, it would 



COl.rMlU'v^ SF.F.KS SPANISH ASSIST AXCK. ST 

receivo hor approbation. Wo wroto to hor, tlioiv- 
fon\ oarnostly implorino- hor to jHM'init Columlnis 
to detail his projocts in l\or own prosonoo, oallino; 
hor attention, not only to the additional honor 
that wonld result from adding- e^mntries not yet 
diseovered to the empire of Spain, now for the 
lirst time, by the eonqnest of the Moors, restored, 
after ages o( divided rnle, io its original integrity ; 
but likewise to that whieh wotdd rest \ipon the 
C^hnreh, by its extension among mnltitndes of 
pagans. 

Sebastian Kodriguez, a pilot, residing i!\ the 
neighborhood, was chosen to be the bearor of this 
letter io the qneen. So taitht'nlly did he aeqnit 
himself, that in fonrteen days he reinrned with an 
oixier for the good friar to repair immediately to 
the conn, and represent to her the ease, while 
Columbns himself was to eontinne at the eonvent 
till fnrther intelligenee was reeeived. 

For the honor of Sjxtin, the tiile o( atYairs had 
not tnrned too soon. Rartolomeo Columbus 
had sailed for England, to lay his brother's pro- 



88 COLUMBUS. 

jects before Henry VII. ; but fell in with pirates 
on his passage, who robbed him of all that he pos- 
sessed, so that he arrived in England in a state of 
complete povert}", and for some time lived in ob- 
scurity, earning a scanty livelihood, as Christo- 
pher had done, by constructing maps and charts 
for the use of navigators. In 1489 he presented a 
map of the world to the king ; and, though he had 
to pass through a long ordeal of contempt and 
neglect, ultimately so ingratiated himself with the 
calculating monarch, that he was commissioned to 
invite his brother to repair to London. But 
Henry was too late. Columbus had sailed before 
the tardy message arrived in Spain. 

The Friar Marchena, on receiving the queen's 
letter from Santa Fe, lost no time in obeying it. 
He soon obtained admission to Isabella, and stated 
the views of Columbus with such earnestness, 
that she at once ordered his attendance, that slie 
might judge of his plans after hearing them more 
particularly described by his own lips. And, 
with provident generosity, she directed that a 



COLUMBUS SEEKS SPANISH ASSISTANCE. 89 

sum of money should be sent to him to defray 
his necessary expenses. He arrived at the city 
camp (for such was Santa Fe) in time to witness 
the close of Moorish dominion in Spain in the sur- 
render of Granada. From the Alhambra, Boab- 
dil el Chico, the last of tiie Mohammedan mon- 
archs, mournfully proceeded to deliver up the 
keys of the city to Ferdinand and his consort, 
now the rulers of entire Spain. Never had such a 
triumph been known in the kingdom. From the 
monarchs to their lowest subject, the wdiole mul- 
titude was moved by the enthusiasm of patriot- 
ism and religion. And Columbus was present. 
It is said that he alone appeared to be unmoved 
by the general impulse. And no wonder. So 
long had he contemplated the idea of the discov- 
ery of a new world, that it had become, as it were, 
a portion of his own being. Before his imagina- 
tion, prospects arose, magnificent even when most 
vague ; and a mind like his could not have dwelt 
so much on it without those occasional exercises 
of the fancy which would disperse the clouds, or 



90 COLUlSIBTrS. 

fill them with the gorgeous hues of sunset. And 
to the man who had such illimitable scenes before 
him, what would be one single city, with what- 
ever splendid associations it might be connected ? 
The heart of Columbus was not there. In the 
midst of that brilliant throng, he was alone ; with 
one grand conception he had become familiar, and 
no one shared it with him. It was as though all 
his thoughts were embodied in words which none 
understood but himself, so that none could hold 
communion with him. All Spain was rejoicing in 
the acquisition of a small slip of territory in her 
own borders ; he was persuaded that he could 
open the way to unknown empires beyond what 
hitherto had proved the impassable ocean. The 
visionary stood alone, his whole soul pervaded by 
the conviction that his visions were glorious real- 
ities. 

Granada was conquered. The affair of Colum- 
bus was laid officially before the monarchs. Per- 
sons were appointed to negotiate with him. But 
new difficulties arose. Columbus proposed two 



COLUMBUS SEEKS SPANISH ASSISTANCE. 91 

principal conditions: that he should be admiral of 
the seas, and viceroy of the countries he should 
discover; and that he should have one-tenth of 
all gains. He offered to defray an eighth part of 
the expense, provided, also, that he should have 
additionally, a like share of the profits. The first 
stipulation seems to have been necessary both for 
his honor and power. Nearly the same privileges 
had been granted by the court of Lisbon to the 
discoverers of the islands which had been added 
to their crown ; and there was already an officer 
in Spain, with the title of Admiral of Castile, the 
office itself being above a century old. Columbus 
requested letters-patent in similar form, confer- 
ring the same title and office as to the seas and 
countries which he might discover. And surely 
one tenth of the gain, leaving nine-tenths for the 
sovereign, whose would be all the real empire 
likewise, was not too munificent a reward. But 
his old opponent, Ferdinand de Talavera, now 
Archbishop of the new Spanish city of Granada, 
was the principal person in the commission, and 



92 COLUJSIBUS. 

his terms were finally pronounced inadmissable. 
He refused to make the least concession. His 
plans with him were certainties ; and, therefore, 
renouncing all further hope from Spain, he again 
resolved to leave the countrj^, and made imme- 
diate preparations for departure from the court. 

He had three friends, however, who now fully 
entered into his plans. Tliis final rejection filled 
them with grief, and they resolved again to 
appeal to Isabella in person. The hospitable friar 
of Rabida was one; the other two, Alonzo de 
Quintanilla, and Luis de St. Angel, the last a 
skilful financier, and Queen Isabella's comptroller. 
They told her that the loss on failure would be 
comparatively trifling ; the gain of success incal- 
culable. They appealed to her religious feelings 
and sense of honor. She was so moved that she 
declared slie would undertake the enterprise for 
her own crown of Castile, and would, if necessary, 
pledge her royal jewels for the expenses. She 
made the decision, and became the patroness of 
the discovery of the new world. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 

IN the meantime, the preparations of Columbus 
were completed, and he had already left 
Granada on his way to Cordova, intending to 
proceed thence to France, where he resolved to 
renew his offers. He had crossed the vega of 
Granada, and was two leagues from the city, 
when he was overtaken by the courier, who had 
been sent to request his return. For a short 
time he paused. No wonder that he hesitated. 
He might also have seen, in this relentless 
opposition, reluctantly yielding to the noble spirit 
of Isabella, the seeds whence bitter fruit might 
ultimately grow. Still, so dear was the object, 
and so uncertain success elsewhere, that, after 
brief but natural hesitation, and confiding in the 
pledged word of the Queen, he consented to re- 
trace his steps. 93 



94 COLUMBUS. 

Isabella, having once resolved, entered into the 
scheme with an ardent zeal which might have 
been expected from a nature like hers, allowing 
itself steadily and fully to look into a subject so 
truly magnificent as that now placed before her. 
It related to the discovery of a new world, and 
the extension of the Christian faith ; and now 
that, at length, she understood what this Genoese 
navigator proposed, and perceived the probable 
foundation on wiiich his plans rested, she saw 
how much more likely was success than failure ; 
and how bright and imperishable the glory which 
success would' give to the joint reign of herself 
and husband. As soon, therefore, as Columbus 
had returned to Santa Fe, he was called to her 
presence, and required to himself state all his 
opinions and wishes, — for this time, after so 
many tantalizing delays, before a willing auditor. 
The warmth of Isabella was strongly contrasted 
with the calculating craftiness of Ferdinand ; but 
in her well regulated mind, warmth was real 
power. She had resolved that the requisite funds 
should be supplied from her own revenues of 



PEEPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 95 

Castile. At the same time, in this instance, as in 
every other during her reign, she was careful 
that in public, and in all official proceedings, the 
King of Arragon should be associated with her. 
All was to be done in the name of " P^erdinand 
and Isabella;" and now that his queen had 
undertaken to defray the expense, and had even 
taken upon herself the real responsibility of the 
whole, the sagacious monarch no longer objected 
to an enterprise, in the failure of which he would 
incur neither disgrace nor loss, but from whose 
success he was sure to derive both honor and 
profit. Columbus had now to negotiate with 
officers who had been directed to draw up the 
agreements between himself and the sovereigns; 
and, as Isabella was anxious that no time should 
be lost, but that the voyage should commence 
before the period of delay was past, and the 
heart of the bold veteran already beat high in 
the sure prospect of the resolution of his doubts. 
He believed that that resolution would be the 
triumphant confirmation of all his anticipations. 



96 COLUMBUS. 

With a reluctance on the part of the agents of 
Ferdinand, wliich would have justified in Colum- 
bus the fear that when he had to look for the ful- 
filment of the promises made to him vexatious, 
difficulties would be dishonorably interposed, the 
documents which he required were at length 
signed.* By this instrument it was agreed: — 

1. Columbus and his heirs to be the King's 
admirals iu all the parts discovered by him " dur- 
ing his natural life," " witli all the pre-eminences 
and prerogatives which belong to the said office, 
in the same manner as possessed by Don Alfonso 

*In the Middle Ages the Spaniards, to distinguish them- 

A selves from the Moors and Jews, 

*^. A "S* then so numerous in Spain, placed 

^\ /(\ *y . before their names the initialo of a 

^ .^r-Dr-KiC. / passage of Scripture or of their 

• patron saint. 

Chroferens signifies Christopher; the letters X, M, Y, 

appear to stand for Christus, Maria, Josephus (Joseph or 

Jesus). The S at the top may be the initial of Sancta (Maria). 

The S, A, S in the second line are more difficult to explain, 

possibly for Salve, Ave, Sanctus. They make seven letters, 

seven being generally considered a sacred number. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 97 

Enriquez, High Admiral of Castile ; " 2. To be 
" Viceroy and Governor-general over all the said 
islands, continents, &c., with the power of nam- 
ing " for each separate government, three persons, 
one of whom the king was to select and appoint; 
3. To have the tenth part of the profits remaining 
after all expenses had been paid, the other nine 
being for the sovereigns ; 4. To be judge in the 
courts necessary for inquiring into questions 
respecting merchandise, &c. ; and 5, To be per- 
mitted to contribute an eighth share of the ex- 
penses of equipment, and to take an eighth share 
of the gain. — »' Granted, in the town of Santa 
Fe, in the plain of Granada, the seventeenth day 
of April, in the year of the nativity of our 
Saviour, Jesus Christ, one thousand four hundred 
and ninety-two. — I the King. — I the Qtjeen." 
Preparations had now to be made for the expe- 
dition itself. Palos, with which and its neighbor- 
hood Columbus was so connected, was bound, by 
some charter or law, to serve the crown with two 



98 COLUMBUS. 

armed caravels, for three months in the year. 
Ferdinand, with his nsual thrift, fixed on these as 
his share, and ordered them to be got ready with- 
ont loss of time. The third vessel was equipped 
by Columbus, through the assistance of his 
friends, at his own expense. While he remained 
at court, Isabella afforded him a striking and very 
encouraging mark of her favor. His son Diego 
was appointed page to Prince Juan, the heir 
apparent. This was an honor which had hitherto 
only been granted to the sons of persons of high 
rank; but the queen had a kind heart, and knew 
how gratified the father would be in leaving his 
son under such patronage ; her judgment, usually 
correct and far-seeing, may likewise have had 
something to do with this appointment ; as she 
would reflect, that should the enterprising parent 
prove successful, according to the terms of the 
agreement, himself and heirs would be called to 
high office and rank, and that by this position at 
court, young Diego would be, in fact, undergoing 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 99 

a training which subsequently would be found to 
have been necessary for him. On the 12th of 
May, all being finished that had to be done at 
court, Columbus left it, directing his steps now 
towards the harbor from which he hoped soon to 
sail, for the discovery of the second half of the 
world. He was fifty-six years of age ; and for 
nearly twenty, his mind had been fixed on one 
object. If he were past the vigor of life as to 
age, yet his constitution was sound, and had 
never been injured by excess. Powerful in frame, 
he was likewise mature in judgment, conscious of 
superiority, exercising command almost as a 
right ; dignified, and yet affable ; so self-possessed 
that by no event was he to be surprised, and so 
self-controlled that he was always well able to 
govern others. 

At Palos, however, he found that if obstruc- 
tions were removed out of the way, the way itself 
was rough, presenting a friction which, though it 
could not prevent, greatly impeded all his move- 
ments. While an expedition to traverse un- 



100 COLUMBUS. 

known seas was only a scheme in the mind of an 
individual, and a few friends whom he had per- 
suaded that it was a good one, all was quiet. 
Everybody could calmly look at that which 
interfered with nobody. In a small seaport it 
would furnish a novel topic for both reasonable 
discourse and idle gossip. But all this quietness 
had to be disturbed. When Columbus arrived at 
the convent, his good friend the prior received 
him with exultation. Their object Avas gained. 
Preparations for the speedy commencement of the 
actual voj'age had to be made. It would not be 
easy to conceive the feelings with wliich Colum- 
bus and the prior would grasp each other's hand. 
Six years before, the first, with his youthful son, 
the companion of his homeless wanderings had 
stood at the convent gate, a mendicant, for the 
refreshment of bread and water ; and the second 
had been struck by his appearance, and by con- 
versation with him had learned his plans. The 
six years liad been replete with anxiety and 
disappointment. But they are gone, and their 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 101 

cares! The youth is high in office at court. 
The father is about to begin one of the most 
momentous undertakings ever conceived by man. 
We may be sure, that as soon as mutual con- 
gratulations had been exchanged, work would 
commence. And so it was. The friends pro- 
cured a notary, proceeded to Palos, called the 
authorities and inhabitants to assemble in the 
parish church of St. George, and there publicly 
read the royal order for the equipment of the 
caravels, and their employment on the discovery- 
voyage as soon as all was ready. The people 
were astonished; and to astonishment fear, and 
even terror, soon succeeded. Of persons actually 
engaged in such a voyage they had never heard. 
Every conceivable danger that ignorance and 
superstition could suggest was imagined. Alarm 
spread from family to family, from heart to heart, 
and increased by communication. Palos was a 
nursery of seamen. Many a bold youth was 
there, many a hardy and experienced veteran. 
But youth and veteran alike shrank from the 



102 COLUMBUS. 

perilous enterprise. Orders came from the sover- 
eigns to impress into the service the number of 
seamen required ; but these could not be carried 
into effect. Commotions and tumults ensued ; 
and Columbus, just when he thought that all was 
gained, stood for a time in doubt whether he 
would not be obliged, after all, to desist. Who 
would undertake a voyage, from which, it was 
said, neither vessels nor seamen w^ould return? 

Just at this time, the wealthy navigator whom 
Columbus, some years before, had succeeded in 
convincing; boldly came forward, and, together 
with his brother, Vicente Yaiiez Pinzon, not 
only declared their approval of the voyage, but 
offered themselves to accompany it with two of 
their own vessels. Their example was effectual ; 
the vessels were soon manned and the process of 
storing them rapidly proceeded. The greatest 
difficulties w^ere connected with the third vessel 
which had been pressed into the service. The 
repairs needed w^ere so imperfectly performed 
that they had to be done over again. The work- 



PREPABATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 103 

men absconded, and scarcely could their place be 
supplied. To the very last moment had Colum- 
bus to combat with difficulties, and surmount 
obstructions. But he was invincible. With 
mingled firmness and patience he went onwards 
till the long desired moment arrived in which he 
could say, " All is ready I " This was in the 
beginning of August. 

And what was the *' fleet" provided for this 
great expedition ? Three vessels, only one of 
which was completely decked ! The other two 
were little more than the river and coasting barks 
of our own time. These caravels, as they were 
termed, were built high at the prow and stern, 
with forecastles and cabins for the crew ; but the 
centres were not decked. The decked vessel was 
called the Santa Maria, and carried Columbus 
and the admiral's flag. One of the caravels, the 
Pinta, was commanded by Martin Alonzo 
Pinzon ; and the other, the Nina, by his brother, 
Vincente Yafiez. Francisco Martin Pinzon, 
another brother, sailed with Alonzo as his mate. 



104 COLUJUBUS. 

Garcia Fernandez, the physician of Palos, sailed 
with Vincente. They had also three able pilots 
on board, whose names deserve a record : Saiicho 
Ruiz, Pedro Alonzo Nino, and BartholomeAv 
Roldan. The total number of persons was one 
hundred and twenty. 

Unhappily, as the moment of departure ap- 
proached, the gloom of the whole community 
increased. Perhaps this was not unnatural. It 
could not be expected that Columbus, so far in 
advance of the age, would be able to bring others 
to share in his own views and feelings. The 
relatives and friends of all parties concerned, 
expressed their persuasion that the separation 
would be a final one ; and the grief they indulged 
spread from them to the crews. 

The last act of Columbus was in accordance 
with general custom. ToAvards the conclusion of 
the day before that on which the voyage was to 
commence, he and all his companions attended 
mass, confessing themselves, and receiving abso- 
lution according to the discipline of the Church 
of Rome. This was August 2d, 1492. 



CHAPTER IX. 



E 



EVENTS OF THE FIE ST VOYAGE. 

ARLY in the morning of the 3d of August, 
14:92, almost all the inhabitants of a small 
seaport on the south- 
west coast of Spain, 
were gathered to- 
gether to see three 
vessels, containing 
one hundred and 
^.'^-s: twenty persons, for 
the most part belong- 
ing to Palos and its 
neighborhood, sail out 
of the harbor. On 
THE CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS, shorc, tlierc Were few 
who were not filled with grief, being persuaded 

105 




106 COLUMBUS. 

that their relatives and friends who were on 
board would return no more. By the lamenta- 
tions of those who were left the minds of 
those who were leaving were painfully affected ; 
their spirits were depressed, their fears excited, 
and could they have abandoned the voyage they 
would have done so. There was, however, one 
man who, though not unaffected by what he saw, 
was unmoved. The hour had arrived which he 
had long desired, long sought. He did all that 
he could to communicate something of his own 
feeling to those whom he regarded as his compan- 
ions in the prosecution of a glorious work. As 
the vessels slowly moved along, while the crews 
were looking shorewards, and repeating their 
signs of farewell to their friends, Columbus was 
looking oceanwards, his thoughts travelling in 
swift flight far beyond the horizon-line where 
sea and sky seemed to meet ; and exulting 
already in the anticipation of the new shores 
which he hoped, ere long, to behold, and from 
which he trusted to return in triumph, spreading 



EVENTS OF TFIE FIRST VOYAGE. 107 

joy where now was so much sorrow. The vessels 
were first steered to the southwest. It was his 
intention to proceed to the Canary Islands, and 
thence take his real departure, on his voyage of 
discovery. Only on the third day after leaving 
port his troubles began. A signal was made 
from the Pinta^ that her rudder was broken, and 
had become unserviceable. It was feared that 
this was no accident; but that her disaffected 
owners had purposely occasioned it, that the 
disabled vessel might have to return. Even the 
crews of the other vessels (for those were days 
of superstition, and sailors are never less super- 
stitious than landsmen) regarded the event as 
an omen of misfortune, a sign of bad luck ; 
and it required all the energy of the admiral to 
induce them to proceed. They soon reached the 
Canaries ; and for two or three weeks Columbus 
cruised among the islands in search of a vessel 
which he might take instead of the Pinta. To 
add to his vexations, he heard that three Portu- 
guese vessels had been seen hovering to the 



108 COLUMBUS. 

westward. He feared that these had been de- 
spatched for the purpose of intercepting his little 
fleet, and putting a stop to his voyage. 

Finding no other yessel, the Pinta was re- 
paired, and all the vessels well-stored and fitted 
for the voyage, which was now really to begin. 
Among the Canaries, the sailors scarcely felt 
themselves separated from home. He was anx- 
ious, therefore, that the prow of his vessel should 
be furrowing the ocean beyond. He endeavored 
to put to sea on the 6th of September ; but for 
three days a tedious calm kept them close by 
land. In the night of tlie 8th, the wind freshened 
a little ; and at sunrise he saw behind him, some 
twenty miles distant, the most westerly of the 
Canaries, the small island of Ferro. The sea was 
clear all around him, to his great joy ; for he 
dreaded, most of all, the appearance of the Port- 
uguese vessels. As the day advanced, the wind 
increased, and continued fair ; so that the land 
astern — how many wishful eyes would on that 
9th day of September be regarding it ! — grad- 



EVENTS OF THE FIKST VOYAGE. 109 

ually diminished and faded, till night finally hid 
it from view. On the morning of the 10th of 
September, land was no longer in sight. The 
voyage was begnn I 

But this Avhich so gladdened the noble heart 
of the admiral, aifected the sailors st) much, that 
many of them even shed tears. What they had 
left they knew ; but where were they going ? 
what would they lind ? It was the great object 
of Columbus to keep them occupied, and to ani- 
mate them by the prospects which were present 
to his own vision. Still, though he had no dis- 
trust, there were moments when he felt that 
his views were not absolutely certain. Cheer- 
ful to others, the inner man could not but be 
serious, even to solemnity, if not occasionally 
anxious. But all this Avas his own secret. With 
powerful self-control, he commanded his very 
features, and for some days onward and onward 
went the ships, impelled by the favoring breeze ; 
leaving the old world behind, hastening to behold 
the new. 



110 COLITMBUS. 

It is somewhat singular tliat the lino on which 
he sailed Avas one whieli postponed diseoverv. 
Had he sailed from the Azores instead of the 
Canaries, and hehl on dne west, several days 
before lie saw one of the sn\all ]>ahamas, he would 
have entered the nohk^ Chesapeake, on that great 
contiuent whieli bears the name of one not truly 
its discoverer. Had his course, even from the 
Canaries, been steered a few points to the south, 
he would have seen the Antilles, Avhich he passed 
to the northward out of sight but few days before 
he actually made land. But in his circumstances, 
he thought it best to keep imiforndy to the west. 

By splendid descriptions appealing to their 
imagination, by splendid promises appealing to 
their desire for riches, and sometimes by reasoning 
with them on the facts and principles of the case, 
he sought to keep his men in good humor. Thus 
far he was right, for he himself fully believed all 
that he said. One deception, however, he prac- 
tised, which, because it was a deception, was 
unworthy of his courage. He kept the reckoning 



EVENTS OF THE FIRST VOYAGE. Ill 

of the fleet himself; and while one paper, for his 
own use, marked the true rate of sailing, a second, 
for his little public, exhibited a much slower 
advance. He did not wish his crew to know how 
far they had sailed. 

And troubles soon began. Before they had 
left Ferro a week, they passed a large mast float- 
ing on the water, looking like part of a wreck. 
This, too, the sailors considered as ominous. 
But, in a few days, for a short time even his own 
mind was troubled. lie observed, for the first 
time, the variation of the needle, — its deflection 
from the true north point, as indicated by tlie 
polar star. The pilots, also, soon perceived it, 
and for a time the alarm was great and general. 
It was apprehended that they were approaching a 
part of the world where they would no louger fijid 
the same natural laws in operation. He was 
obliged to explain the matter as well as he could ; 
and his high reputation as an astronomer stood 
him in good stead. Before long, the little fleet 
had entered the " trade wind," which there blows 



112 COLUMBUS. 

steadily from east to west. The sea was smooth, 
the weather serene, and they were wafted rapidly 
along, for many days not shifting a sail. Signs 
of land, too, as Columbus lioped they wonk»l 
prove, began to appear. Patches of herbs and 
weeds were seen drifting from the west, some of 
them appearing quite fresh ; and on one of them 
was a live crab. New kinds of birds were seen ; 
some of them evidently land-birds. Every eye 
now was directed westward. A pension of thirty 
crowns had been promised to the person first 
discovering land. Columbus frequently sounded, 
with a two-hundred-foot line ; but no bottom had 
yet been found. 

But, though thus occasionally inspirited, the 
sailors began to fear that they were advancing so 
far, that return would be impracticable. Tlie 
wind hlew from the east: liow were they to sail 
towards the east, back again ? Then, again, were 
they clieered by the morning visits of little sing- 
ing-birds, which left them at night, coming from 
the west, and returning in the same direction. 



EVENTS OF THE FIRST VOYAGE. 113 

Still, as they went onward, onward, onward, and 
nothing but sea and sky, their hearts again failed 
them. One day there was a dead calm, and they 
feared they had entered a region where the winds 
had ceased to blow. Their minds were in such a 
state that every trifle affected them. Their mur- 
murs increased, and at length, began to assume 
the form of resistance to the admiral's authoritj^ 
He himself had reckoned, that at a distance of 
seven hundred and fifty leagues they would find 
land. They had sailed thus far, but no land 
had been seen. 

On the 7th of October, many land-birds came 
to them from the southwest; and appearances in 
that direction were such that he consented to turn 
his vessel's head from the line which hitherto it 
had traced. Had he not done so land might have 
been found a day or two later ; but it would have 
been the continent, where it is now called Florida. 
But his crews were almost in a state of mutiny. 
Three days they continued in this direction ; and 
when the sun went down, on the 10th of October, 



114 COLUMBUS. 

no land appeared on the horizon. It was with 
the utmost difficulty, by threats and persuasions, 
by mingled authority and kindness, that he in- 
duced them to continue their course till another 
day should enlighten the scene. On that day, 
October 11th, in its earlier portion, there were 
evident indications of a land near them. A 
fish, known to dwell in water among rocks, 
passed them; a hrancJi, ivith berries on it, teas 
seen floating; also a reed, a piece of board — 
wood evidently cut; and, soon after, a carved 
stick. Xot only was land near but land on 
which was man. What a day would that be 
for every one on board, but most of all for the 
'^ admiral I '' Curiosity there would be in all ; in 
him the curiosity of science. But the sun Avent 
down, and still no land! Murmurs, however, had 
subsided ; they were in the vicinity of land, and 
the question was, " Who shall see it first ? " And 
this would be, not from natural curiosity alone, 
but from the hope of the pension of thirty 
crowns. 



EVENTS OF THE FIRST VOYAGE. 117 

Vespers ha<l been sung. Columbus had ad- 
dressed Ills crew. He told them he believed they 
would make land that very night, and exhorted 
all to be on the " look out." He took his own 
station on the highest part of the forecastle ; and 
as tlie darkness closed around him, his eye sought 
to penetrate the veil for the slightest indication of 
the long-desired object. To him the moments 
would pass slowly, for anxiety Avas at its height. 
The Pinta Avas a short distance a-head ; from her, 
therefore, the first signal might be expected. But 
he Avho first conceived the idea first witnessed 
its realization. About ten at night, he thought 
he perceived a light at a great distance. He 
looked again. It appeared to move, as if lifted 
up and down, and then, as if a person Avere Avalk- 
ing with it. Dreading the effect of disappoint- 
ment on the crew, he called one of his officers up 
to him, Pedro Gutierrez. He, too, saAV it. He 
then called Rodrigo Sanchez, Avho saw it just as 
it disappeared. Twice or thrice afterwards, how- 
ever, it appeared again ; and though land itself 



118 COLUMBUS. 

could not be seen, the token that there was land, 
and inhabited land, had been given ; and first seen 
by Columbus. 

While they were watching, — and there would 
be no sleep that night, — two in the morning had 
arrived. A gun was fired from the Pinta. It 
was the signal agreed upon. From that vessel 
Rodriguez Bermejo, a sailor from Seville, had 
seen that they were approaching land. All now 
was joyous expectation. The hitherto unpassed 
ocean had been crossed. Though shrouded b}^ 
darkness, land was before them ; and in a very few 
hours day would show them what it was. Dili- 
gent scientific research, untiring industry and 
patience, unconquerable perseverence, were about 
to be rewarded. Columbus was the discov- 

EKER OF THE NeW WoRLD. 



CHAPTER X. 

FIRST LANDING OF COLUMBUS IN THE NEW 
WORLD. 

IN tlie conclusions at which Columbus had 
arrived, the existence of another continent 
liad no place. He expected that Asia extended 
far to the eastward from India ; and to the east- 
ward of its farthest coast he expected to find a 
large island, with rich and warlike iidiabitants. 
Vague reports in those days had reached Europe 
concerning Japan, or, as Columbus termed it, 
Cipango. Whether this were the island, or 
Avhether it were the Asiatic continent, he knew 
not. At length day broke, and soon all became 
visible. A beautiful island was before these 
intrepid navigators. It was almost covered by 
verdant forests, and the herbage appeared most 
luxuriant. All were anxious to go on shore. By 

119 



120 COLUMBUS. 

sunrise the admiral was read}-, clotlied in a 
splendid scarlet uniform. The two Pinzons like- 
wise entered their boats. All were accompanied 
by armed men, and carried the banners of Castile 
and Aragon. The inhabitants were seen running 
about in great numbers ; but the state of nuditj- 
in which they lived proved at once that there v. as 
no Asiatic civilization amono^ them. 

Columbus landed, took possession of the 
country in the name of Their Spanish Majesties, 
had himself proclaimed viceroy, and received the 
oaths of subjection from his followers, who were 
now as excited by joy as before they had been 
dejected by grief and despair. The most muti- 
nous fell at his feet, craving pardon. All prom- 
ised obedience, and few neglected to solicit favors. 
The inhabitants, meanwhile, were all astonish- 
ment and alarm. At daybreak they had seen the 
vessels, and supposed them to be monsters with 
wings, especially Avhen they saw them, as it were 
self-moved by the sails. When the party landed, 
they saw beings of a ncAV race, and at first fled to 



FIRST LANDING OF COLUMBUS. 121 

the woods ; but after a time they became assured 
and, with all the confidence of their unknowing 
simplicity, mingled freely with their visitors. 
Their skins were fancifully painted, but their 
original complexion was copper-colored. For 
arms they had only lances, the point being 
hardened by fire, or having some fish-bone 
fastened there. Of iron they aj^pcared to have 
no knowledge. Articles for gift or traffic Avere 
of the most simple character. Some of tliem, 
however, had ornaments of gold about them. 
The Spaniards, as well as they conld, eagerly 
inquired where tlic}^ had been obtained ; and, as 
well as they could understand the signs, gathered 
that the reo-ion for o-old was to the south-west. 

Columbus had landed on an island belonging 
to the group now iiamed ''the Bahamas." If a 
map be examined, it will be seen, that if he had 
pursued a course in a somewhat more southerly 
direction, he would much sooner have reached 
land. He landed at what is now the island of 
St. Salvador, which is about 24° north latitude, 



122 COLUMBUS. 

and 76° west longitude. Supposing his vessel to 
have been, some given day, in IS"" 30 north lati- 
tude, and about 61'' west longitude, he would 
have been directly north of the Antilles, 
and, by sailing directly south, he would 
have come to Barbuda, Antigua, Dominica, 
Martinico, St. Vincent, or Barbadoes (a little to 
the east), and so on to Tabago, Trinidad, and 
the southern continent, near the mouths of the 
vast '' Orinoco." On the other hand, if he had 
not deviated from his direct westerly course 
(by which deviation he was brought to St. Sal- 
vador), he w^ould either have come, about the 
same time, to Eleuthera, or New Providence ; or, 
had he been a little to the north, and passed them 
in the night to the " larboard " (or left), as the 
sailors say, in two or three days at furthest he 
might have run the prow of his vessel on the 
southern point of the North American continent, 
somewhere on the coast of Florida, and left not 
even the shadow of a reason for giving to the 
new w^orld the name which it now bears, from 



FIRST LANDING OF COLUMBUS. 123 

a later voyager, whose name is Latinized to 
Americiis Vespuccius. If ever man deserved 
that his memory should be preserved in the 
denomination of any land on this globe of 
ours, that man was Christopher Columbus, and 
Amekica should have been Columbia. 

The next morning the natives, who appear to 
have apprehended no 
danger from the stran- /*^^ 
gers, visited the ships, />^a 

ft>m 

some by swimming, fei 
others in vessels formed \^! 
from the trunk of a single \y{ 
tree, hollowed out, which 
they called canoes, and 
which were some of them, capable of containing 
forty or fifty persons. It was soon found that 
here, at all events, the dreams which many had 
entertained, and from which Columbus himself 
had not been free, — that regions of great wealth 
would be reached, by the discovery of which 
riches might speedily be secured, — were not likely 




124 COLUMBUS. ' 

to be realized. Columbus had thought of reach- 
ing the eastern extremit}- of the old continent of 
Asia, where a civilized and "\\ealth3' people, as in 
India, would be found; but the simple islanders 
of the Western Indies (as the new discoveries, 
collectively, were soon named) were altogether 
different from the Hindoos or Chinese. And, 
eventually, most melancholy was the result. 
Many of the companions of Columbus in his 
first Yovao'e, and still more in those which he 
subsequently made, were animated b}' the eager 
and ignorant cupidity of the day. They were 
men who wanted to '' make haste to be rich.'' 
Unacquainted with the true prineiples of com- 
merce, and too impatient in their desires for 
wealth to be, according to the old fable, con- 
tented with the golden egg daily, they Avanted to 
be rich at once ; not by the cultivation of the 
land, by the establishment of new markets 
for home manufactures, the introduction of 
new articles of commerce into their native 
country, and from Spain into Europe generally. 



FIBST LANDING OF COLUMBUS. IZb 

but by the immediate possession of the more 
costly articles, especially of the precious metals. 

All these expectations were disappointed, until 
Mexico was discovered and conquered, some 
years afterwards, by Hernando Cortes ; and, sub- 
sequently, Peru by Francisco Pizarro. The 
results soon were fcital to the inhabitants. Dis- 
appointed in their expectations of immediate 
wealth, the Spaniards, though unable to gratify 
their avarice, could indulge their indolence, and 
the natives were soon compelled to become their 
servants. The consequence was, that, worn out 
by a toil for which their previous habits had 
unfitted them, and which their few wants did not 
require, — as, indeed, the nature of the climate 
did not allow it, — they gradually melted away, 
so that their diminished and diminishing numbers 
became insufficient for the cultivation of the land. 

Then a remedy, worse if possible, than the dis- 
ease, was employed. A hardier race was judged 
to be necessary ; and before the aborigines had 
disappeared, — which was the case in no long 



126 COLUMBUS. 

space of time, — the importation of negroes from 
Africa laid the foundation of the guilt}^ systems 
of the African shive-trade, and West Indian and 
American slavery. West Indian slavery, at a 
period, still within the memory of many now 
living. Great Britain put down ; and the 
country which glories that under its govern- 
ment all men are free and equal has later 
wrought out and solved forever the problem 
of human slaver}^ in the western world. That 
country set the example of liberty to all nation's 
by declaring that all her subjects should enjoy 
personal freedom, and equality before the law, 
as their inalienable and sacred birth-right. 

The Spaniards soon discovered that their new 
friends had very little to offer them. In return 
for the trinkets that were given them, they had 
only some balls of cotton yarn, and parrots which 
they had tamed. They wore, however, small 
ornaments of gold in their noses ; and when asked 
whence these came, they pointed to the south, 
and intimated that the people there were warlike, 



FIRST LANDING OF COLUJVIBUS. 127 

and that from the north-west, also, they were 
sometimes invaded, and the captives taken away 
as slaves. Columbus thought this must be the 
Asia of his imaginings, and resolving to pursue 
his discoveries, found no difficulty in per- 
suading his men to concur in liis resolution. 
After brief repose, therefore, he left the island, 
directing his course towards the south, and taking 
with him several of the inhabitants, that they 
might learn Spanish, and be their interpreters in 
other places. 




CHAPTER XI. 

DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 

IN some sense it might be said that the vo3^age 
of discovery was now finished ; hencefor- 
ward it was to be one of exploration. For some 
time it was most delightful : every object was 
new the toils and apprehensions of the outward 
voyage were over, and pleasing certainty had dis- 
placed alarming doubt. Novelty, always most 
gratifying in its first stages, was the more so to 
the Spaniards, not only from its contrast with the 
dark and distressing past, nor even from the 
pleasantness of the objects which it exhibited ; but 
from the character which all those objects sus- 
tained, as not only being seen for the first time by 
them, but for the first time by any Europeans. 
It is scarcely possible to conceive of a temper 

128 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 129 

more prepared for delight than that of the crews 
of Columbus for the first few days after the grand 
discovery had been made by them. The long- 
agitated problem was solved, and solved by them- 
selves. Every bosom would swell at the thoughts 
of returning home, and telling to their anxious, 
if not despairing, friends the wonderful tale of 
their success. Each sailor would feel that at 
home, in his own circle, he would be a hero. He 
would be able to speak to them, not merely of 
lands which he had seen and they had not, — and 
this is still one of the greatest pleasures of the 
returned traveller, — but of lands of which he 
had not heard till he saw them, nor they till he 
told them. None could feel this in as high a 
degree as Columbus himself, but it would be felt 
by all ; and as nothing adverse had as yet 
occurred, all would be disposed to be pleased. 

For several days they sailed from island to 
island ; but even while sailing, and looking out 
for land with expectation no longer mingled with 
anxiety, the sea over which they were passing 



130 COLUMBUS. 

was continually affording gratification. The 
weather was serene, the sky bright, the ocean 
smooth, for they had seen it hitherto in only one 
of its tropical aspects. No hurricane had been 
witnessed by them, driving everything before its 
power, and raising the gentle heaving of the 
water into mountainous waves. Below the glassy 
surface new kinds of fish, many of them beautiful 
and splendid in their hues, were continually 
sporting. The island landscapes, likewise, pre- 
sented every variety of loveliness. The verdant 
plains, the wooded hills, the dense foliage of the 
forests, in which, too, were many species of trees 
heretofore unknown, and which Columbus con- 
jectured might prove of great value in Spain, 
both for dyeing and medicine, all contributed to 
recompense and recruit the weary and exhausted, 
voj^agers ; and, perhaps, never men enjoyed a 
larger quantity of the purest physical pleasure 
than did Columbus and his sailors for the 
remainder of the October that had commenced 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 131 

SO fearfully, but had so soon afforded sueh happy 
auspiees. 

As they proceeded slowly towards the soutli, 
and island after island met their view, at each tlie 
in(]^uiry was, Whether g'old or spices were found 
there ? The answer was always the same ; but 
the farther south they sailed, the more definite 
became the reports eoneerning" a large eouidry to 
be found in that direction. At length, on (lie 
28tli of October, tliey came in sight of Cuba. 
This noble island, though very narrow, scarcely 
ever a hundred and fifty miles from sea to sea, 
and sometimes much U;ss, extends, in a diagonal 
direction, from north-west, where its liigliest lati- 
tude is 23°, to south-east, wliere it is not (|uite 
20% not less than eight hundred miles. Columbus 
made tlie land on tlie north side, about a third 
of the distance from its lowest extremity, towards 
its higher one. He was deeply impressed with 
the magnificent views of the plains, and valleys, 
and lofty mountains of the island. He sailed 
along the coast slowly toAvards the north, and 



132 COLUMBUS. 

began at length to believe he had reached conti- 
nental Asia. 

At one place, hearing of a great prince in the 
interior, he thought the}^ Avere talking of Cub lay- 
Khan, of Tartary, and sent a deputation to him 
with presents from the Spanish sovereigns. One 
who was sent was a converted Jew, who was 
acquainted with Hebrew and the Chaldaic and 
Arabic tongues. They penetrated about twelve 
leagues into the island, and then came to a village 
with fifty houses, and about a thousand inhabi- 
tants ; but nothing was there to indicate what 
these ambassadors sought. The learned languages 
were of no avail, and their Indian interpreter had 
to be employed. They were received with great 
kindness; but they saw no marks either of an 
advanced state of society or of the possession of 
wealth. The population was thin, and the land 
very partially and rudely cultivated. 

On their return, however, they were much 
struck by what they observed to be a common 
practice. Certain dried leaves of a herb were 




!( l|||||ll! 



iiliSi 



na 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 135 

rolled up so as to form a tight roll rather larger 
than a finger. One end of this was lit, and the 
other put into the mouth, that the smoke might 
first be drawn up, and then puffed out. This was 
not very far from what is uoav the chief city of 
the island, Havannah. To these little rolls the 
natives gave the name of "tobacco," a name 
which has since been transferred to the weed 
itself from the leaves of which the inhabitants 
made the rolls ; and this was evidently their 
primitive manner of using it. , 

Columbus was satified that such a people as he 
sought was not to be found in Cuba. He, how- 
ever, kept coasting till, had he proceeded much 
farther, he would have arrived at the most 
westerly point of the island, now Cape St. Anto- 
nio, whence across to Yucatan, on the opposite 
shores of Mexico, is not much above a hundred 
miles. But he here heard that not far from the 
eastern point of Cuba was a large island, where, 
though the people were very warlike (some said 
they had only one eye), they had plenty of gold. 



136 COLUMBUS. 

Columbus now resolved to coast back to the 
south-east, though uncertain whether Cuba was 
island or continent. 

Soon after he turned back, however, a most 
untoward event occurred. The Pinta, com- 
manded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, was the best 
sailor ; and being considerably ahead, Columbus 
made signals for him to shorten sail, to which the 
captain paid no attention. These were repeated 
during the night by lights at the mast-head ; but 
in the morning the vessel was no longer to be 
seen. 

It afterwards appeared that Pinzon had heard 
of this land to the eastward, where gold abound- 
ed, and that he and his crew had resolved to sail 
directly for it, and secure its advantages for 
themselves. Columbus deeply felt the desertion, 
but continued his own coasting course, and at 
length arrived at the eastern end of the island, 
around which he sailed for a little distance. But 
one day, taking a rather wider offing than usual, 
he perceived high mountains in the horizon to 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 137 

the south-east. He immediately made sail in that 
direction ; and soon arrived at the island long 
called Hispaniola, now generally known under the 
names of St. Domingo and Hayti, one of the most 
beautiful and magnificent islands in the world. 

It was on the evening of the 6th of December 
that he entered a harbor at the western end of 
the island, to which he gave the name of St. 
Nicholas. The inhabitants, however, had fled 
from their dwellings, and it was not till he had 
sailed farther along the coast, and made several 
ineffectual attempts, that he was at length suc- 
cessful in meeting some of them. But here, as 
elsewhere, he found the same general state of 
society, the same general circumstances of the 
people. One well acquainted with the true prin- 
ciples of social wealth would have seen abundant 
means of securing it ; but of wealth, according to 
the ideas then attached to it, no other traces were 
found than in the golden ornaments which some 
possessed, though of the source whence originally 
procured they could give no certain account. Of 



138 coLcrjMBUS. 

its value they had no particular notion, readily 
exchanging their ornaments for trifling European 
trinkets. Their hospitality could only furnish 
fish, fruits, and cassava-bread ; but it was exer- 
cised with the most unsuspecting freedom. 

With one chief or cacique^ on the coast he 

became acquainted, and received a message from 

another, Guacanagari by name, whose power was 

acknowledged by all that part of the island, 

inviting him to visit a place on the coast, a little 

farther to the eastward, where he resided. The 

party who were sent to this cliieftain brought 

back so favorable an account that Columbus 

resolved to accept his invitation. Early in the 

morning of the 24th of December he sailed for 

this purpose, and a little before midnight had 

arrived within a couple of leagues of the place he 

had to visit. The weather was fine and the sea 

calm, so that the admiral, whose careful attention 

scarcely ever ceased, thought he might take the 

repose which he felt that he needed. Giving 

strict orders for watchfulness, he retu'ed to his 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 139 

cabin. But the appearances of safety were too 
seductive to those whom he left on deck, and who 
had neither his responsibility nor his thoughtful- 
ness. Thinking that all was right, one by one 
those who ought to have watched fell fast asleep. 
The steersman, too, against the rule which for- 
bade such a proceeding at any time, gave the 
helm in charge to a boy, whom he told to keep 
awake for a time while he rested himself; and 
thus, above and below, all were sleepers, save the 
boy at the helm, who understood nothing of the 
management of the vessel, even could he have 
observed its course. 

Unknown to any one, the ship was now under 
the influence of a smooth but powerful current ; 
and before long struck violently on a sand-bank. 
Columbus felt the shock, and hastened on deck, 
where he witnessed the negligence consequent on 
his own brief retirement for necessary repose. 
He stood there and witnessed the deck empty 
and the vessel aground. The sailing-master 
almost immediately followed him, but he ought 



140 COLUMBUS. 

not to have left his post ; and the crew came up 
in the confusion of suddenly awakened men. 
They were required to carr}^ an anchor astern, to 
assist in getting off the vessel; but when they 
were in the boat, instead of promptl}' obeyiug 
orders, they rowed off to the caravel commanded 
by Vincent Pinzon, then at some little distance, 
thus giving time for the vessel to be more deeply 
embedded in the sand. Pinzon Avas happily alive 
to the threatening danger, and sharply reproving 
the men in the boat for their cowardice in merely 
thinking of their own safety, and leaving their 
companions, for what the}' knew or cared, to 
perish, he refused to allow them to come on 
board, and not only ordered them back, but, 
directing his own boat to be at once manned, he 
hastened to the assistance of Columbus. 

And it was time. The vessel liad been driven 
farther upon the bank, and the keel was so fixed 
in the sand, that the cutting away the mast pro- 
duced no benefit. The seams began to open, and 
the waves, calm, as happily the sea was, beat on 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 141 

her with sufficient force to throw lier over on one 
side. Had the weather been stormy all must 
have been lost. As it was, Columbus and most 
of his crew had to leave the vessel, and take 
refuge for the remainder of the night on board 
the caravel, anxiously waiting for morning, when 
they hoped for assistance from the shore, to 
deliver them from the terrible consequences 
resulting from heedlessness. No one had intended 
to do any harm. The weather was fine ; all was 
right. " Surely we may just have an hour's 
sleep, when we will return to our posts with 
redoubled diligence." Thus the crew most likely 
reasoned, if such abandonment of the soul to 
present feeling is to be called reasoning ; and thus 
reasoning, no one meaning to do harm, the vessel 
was wrecked, and had Providence permitted the 
wind to freshen, and the waves to rise, vessel and 
crew might have been lost. 

The commander of the other caravel well knew 
his duty, and not only at once ordered the men 
who had rowed to his vessel to return, but with a 



142 COLIDTVIBUS. 

party of his own crew followed them, to render 
aid to his companions in this perilous exigency. 
But nothing could be done till morning came, 
and then messengers were sent to give informa- 
tion to the friendly cacique. Assistance was 
promptly rendered, and everything was removed 
from the wreck to the shore. Nothing was 
pilfered; and every accommodation that native 
kindness could afford was given, in a manner the 
most affectionate. 

The cacique collected a number of his people, 
by whom a variety of their games were performed. 
Columbus, also, caused his men to go through the 
European military manoeuvres. The Indians 
were most of all impressed by the firing of a 
cannon, loaded with a ball, the effect of which 
upon the trees against which it was directed they 
witnessed with equal surprise and terror. They 
called the Spaniards " sons of heaven," who had 
come to their protection armed with thunder and 
lightning. They soon saw the value attached by 
their visitors to gold, which themselves regarded 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANTOLA. 143 

chiefly as an ornament. Very willingly did they 
part with it in exchange for triiUng European 
articles ; and Columbus was informed that among 
some of the mountains of the island it was found 
in considerable quantities. lie could not rid 
himself of his notions respecting Cipango (Japan), 
and began now to think that this was the island. 
Some of the men, too, perceiving the easy life 
which the natives led, and contrasting the beauty 
of the place and the present fnieness of the 
weather with the hardships which they antici- 
pated on their voyage, began to indulge the wish 
of remaining Avliere they Avere. This at length 
was mentioned to Columbus, who, meditating on 
it, formed the desi^'u of thus lavino; the founda- 
tion of a colony. The wreck of the vessel would 
furnish materials for the construction of a fort- 
ress ; and during his absence, the men who 
remained might acquire the native language, 
explore the island, and collect gold. Such were 
his plans ; and had they whom he left been ani- 
mated by his spirit, the results might have been 



144 COLUMBUS. 

equally beneficial to themselves, their new 
acquaintances, and their country. When will 
men learn that such is the established order of 
human affairs, in the administration of a Provi- 
dence always supreme, that where the rules of 
rectitude are abandoned, whatever present grati- 
fication may be obtained, solid and permanent 
prosperit}^ cannot possibly be secured? 

While engaged in preparing both for his own 
return, and the establishment of the infant colony, 
Columbus heard that another vessel had anchored 
at the eastern end of the island. Knowing that 
his own ships alone had penetrated thus far across 
the ocean, he at once concluded that it was the 
Finta^ and immediately dispatched a canoe with 
an earnest request that Pinzon would lose no time 
in rejoining him. The canoe returned unsuccess- 
ful ; and Columbus was now oppressed by anxiety 
respecting his own circumstances. The remain- 
ing caravel was scarcely seaworthy, and a long 
voyage over a stormy ocean was before him. The 
wreck of this one vessel, he felt, would amount 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 145 

to the failure of the whole voyage. Who should 
then convey information to Spain, of the discover- 
ies he had effected? And who, when nothing 
was ever heard of the first voyagers, would ven- 
ture to undertake a similar enterprise ? But his 
mind was not constituted to yield to difficulties 
Avhen an important object was before him. His 
uniform plan was to prepare to encounter them 
Avisely, and, by thus encountering, to surmount 
them. 

The first thing to be accomplished was the 
erection of the fortress ; and this, by the constant 
labor of the men, assisted by the friendly Indians, 
was completed in less than a fortnight. From 
the number who wished, to remain, he selected 
tliirty-nine in whom he thought he could place 
most confidence, and appointed the officers who 
should command in his absence. He gave them 
rules for their conduct both to each other and to 
the natives ; rules which, had they been observed 
with a fidelity corresponding to the wisdom with 
which they were framed, would have prevented 



146 coLOiBrs. 

the first records of European colonization in the 
West Indies, in St. Domingo especially, from 
beins: inscribed in characters of blood, and the 
natives would not have seen, in the lirst Chris- 
tians whose character they were called to con- 
template, the exemplifications of sensuality, 
rapine, and tyranny. 

As soon as the fortress was completed, tlie 
remaining caravel ^^"as got ready for the home- 
ward voyage, and on the 4th of January, 1493, 
Columbus left La Xa^-idad, and directed his 
adventiu-ous prow toward Spain. On the 6th. 
before tliey were clear of the coast, a sailor from 
the mast-head gave the information that he saw 
a sail at a distance, approacliing them \^ith a 
favorable wind. This proved to be the long- 
missing Finta. When Pinzon came on board, 
he attributed the separation of the vessels to 
stress of weather : and Columbus wishing to 
avoid all altercation, appeared to believe him. It 
was afterwards, however, ascertained that Pinzon 
had piu'posely taken the dii'ection that he did ; 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 147 

that lie had been for some time at the eastern 
part of Hispaniola, and had collected a considera- 
ble quantity of gold, half of which he had retained 
for himself, and divided the remainder among 
his crew to purchase their secrecy. He had like- 
wise carried off four Indian men and two girls, 
to be sold for slaves in Spain. Columbus sailed 
to the place where Pinzon had so long been, and 
though with great opposition from him, ordered 
the Indians to be restored. 

He then sailed into a large bay, still farther 
east, where he found the natives very savage and 
ferocious. For the first time, hostilities broke 
out, and in the skirmish several Indians were 
slain. On the following day, however, the 
cacique and his people, conscious, perhaps, of the 
hnmeasurable superiority which their fire-arms 
gave to the wliites, were as peaceable as though 
nothing had occurred of a contrary nature, and 
received with thankfulness the presents which 
were made to them. The name of this cacique 
of '' Ciquay " was Mayonabex : he subsequently 



148 COLUMBUS. 

was found acting, in very trying circumstances, 
with much courage and magnanimity. On 
leaving this bay, four young Indians were taken 
along with them, as guides to the islands where 
the warlike Caribs were reported to dwell, still 
farther to the east. The men, however, began to 
be impatient for their return ; and, as the wind 
was favorable, he resolved now to prosecute his . 
voyage directl}^ for home, and leave the task of 
proceeding with his discoveries for his next visit. 
They sailed eastward, meeting with variable 
Aveather, till the 12th of February, when they had 
made such progress that they began to rejoice in 
the hope of soon seeing land. On that day, how- 
ever, a violent storm came on, in the course of 
which the Pinta was agaiu separated from them. 
For some time they were in imminent dauger of 
perishing, and numerous vows of penances and 
pilgrimages were made to be performed should 
they be permitted to escape from the fury of 
winds and waves. The mind of the intrepid 
admiral was especially exercised. If, as he feared, 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 149 

the Pint a was lost, the whole account of his 
discoveries would remain in his own ship, now 
scarcely seaAvorthy. That the memory of his 
expedition should perish was more distressing to 
him even than the thoughts of his children, 
orphans as they then would be. To guard as far 
as possible against this, he wrote an account of 
his discoveries on parchment, placed it in the 
midst of a cake of wax, and fastening the whole 
in a cask, so constructed as to be water-tight, he 
cast it into the sea. 

After the third day, happily, the storm abated, 
and on the 15th of February they came in sight 
of St. Mary's, the southern island of the Azores, 
belonging to the King of Portugal. The wind, 
however, was so baffling that it was two or three 
days before they could anchor. There fresh 
trials awaited them. The Portuguese monarch, 
jealous of the undertaking which he had at first 
refused to patronize, had issued orders to the 
governers of the different settlements, if Colum- 
bus, returning, should call at any of them, to 



150 COLUMBUS. 

seize and detain him. Several attempts were here 
made with this object, but they proved unsuccess- 
ful ; and on February 24th he was permitted to 
depart for Spain. He soon experienced a renewal 
of the tempestuous weather, and was for several 
days in greater danger than ever. Land was at 
length seen ; and though it was near the mouth 
of the Tagus, and he had reason to doubt of the 
reception he should meet in Portugal, such was 
the shattered state of his vessel that no choice 
was left him ; and in the afternoon of March 4th 
he anchored in the river, bringing to Europe the 
momentous intelligence of the discovery of a new 
quarter of the globe. 

Columbus lost no time in sending a messenger 
to the king and queen of Spain. At Lisbon all 
was astonishment. He was invited to the court, 
where those who had opposed his project, wlien 
first presented there, were filled with envy at his 
success. By the king, however, he was received 
generously, though he now deeply regretted his 
former conduct, and refused to listen to proposals 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 151 

made for the detention, and even the assassina- 
tion, of the bold and skilful navigator, who had 
himself realized the predictions which so many 
had scoffed. He was permitted to seat himself 
in the royal presence. The most eager attention 
was paid to the account he gave of his voyage and 
its results ; and orders were given that whatever 
he needed to recruit his sailors and repair his 
vessel should be furnished free of cost. He was 
escorted back to his ship by a numerous train, 
calling on his way at a monastery where the 
queen was with the ladies of her court, to whom 
likewise he recited his wonderful adventures. 

At length, all being ready for sea, he left the 
Tagus on the 13th of March, sailing southward 
along a well-known coast ; and in two days, on 
the 15th, seven months and a half after having 
quitted it on the greatest enterprise of modern 
times, he entered the harbor of Palos. And who 
can tell the feelings with which he would sail into 
the place near which he had experienced so much 
anxiety ? Who can tell the feelings with which 



152 COLUMBUS. 

the vessel would be seen by the inhabitants? 
From the midst of them the crew had been taken. 
The departure of the little fleet had been wit- 
nessed with almost hopeless despondency. Few 
expected to behold their friends again, — scarcely 
any to witness their return in the full triumph of 
success. Who can doubt that Avhen the shij) was 
recognized, the tidings would be even rapturously 
communicated? From house to house the cry 
would be, ' Columbus is come back ! " 

It was soon known that he had discovered new 
countries, some of the productions and inhabitants 
of which were on board. All business for that 
day came to an en.d. The bells rang merrily; 
and, happily, what soon might have been cause 
of mourning was removed. Of three vessels that 
had sailed onl}^ one had entered the port; but 
almost before there was time to inquire whether 
mourning for the lost was to be mingled with joy 
for the found, — before night set in, and the time 
for fireside reflection came, — the Pinta entered 
the harbor, and anchored by the side of her com- 



DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. 153 

rade. They had been driven by stress of weather 
into the Bay of Biscay, and had put into the port 
of Bayonne, whence Pinzon had written to court, 
informing the monarchs of the discoveries that 
had been made, and requesting permission to state 
what had occurred personally. He then sailed 
for Palos, hoping that he would arrive there first ; 
but he was disappointed. He landed privately, an 
exception to the general joy ; a melancholy, and a 
most instructive example of the evil of yielding 
to temptation, and departing from the track of 
duty. 

He was one of the first who had been con- 
vinced of the soundness of the arguments of 
Columbus ; had stood by him, along with the 
prior of the convent of Rabida, when he was 
almost friendless ; and when it had been re- 
solved to undertake the voyage, he had not only 
employed all his influence in its favor, but 
embarked his property in the enterprise, and 
courageously resolved personally to share all its 
dangers. Unhappily, Avhen its main object had 



154 COLUMBUS. 

been secured, whether prompted by envy or by 
avarice, he allowed himself to be subdued by the 
desire of appropriating its honors to himself, and 
departed from his associates ; both hoping to 
acquire more wealth and to be the first to an- 
nounce success. Even after rejoining Columbus, 
before they left the new world behind them, the 
jealousy remained rankling in his bosom. 

It is a melancholy fact, and one that is substan- 
tiated by all researches into the moral nature of 
man, that a merely human repentance, is seldom 
powerful enough to induce one who has done 
wrong, to thoroughly forgive those whom he has 
attempted to injure. The doer of wrong is often 
far more resentful than he is who suffers it. 
Pinzon soon received letters forbidding his 
appearance at court, and censuring his desertion 
of his superior officer. To physical weakness, 
mental suffering was now added, and their united 
influence brought him in a few days to his tomb. 



CHAPTER XII. 

RECEPTION IN SPAIN. 

THE first act of Columbus on landing at 
Palos, was what might have been antici- 
pated. He had returned in safety from a difficult 
and dangerous voyage. He had achieved a dis- 
covery, whose importance far exceeded even his 
powers of estimation. Deejjly impressed by the 
goodness of God, both in preserving him, and 
making him the instrument of bringing such 
information before the world, he and his men, as 
soon as he landed, walked in procession to the 
church. Going and returning, his progress was 
almost like an ancient triumph. The joyous 
shout of the people filled the air as this procession 
of mariners, with the hero of discovery at their 
head, passed along the crowded streets. What an 

155 



156 COLUMBIJS. 

instance of the value of persevering toil, in obedi- 
ence to well-studied conviction ! Six years pre- 
viously, he had landed at that very place with his 
youthful son, an obscure individual, so destitute 
that he was glad to receive the kindly-bestowed 
alms of the convent near which he had to pass ; 
his only wealth, the conviction of which he never 
lost hold, the existence of a new world beyond 
the stormy Atlantic. Through difficulties and 
discouragements, and finally through dangers, to 
this conviction he was faithful. He persevered, 
succeeded, and obtained his recompense. 

Ferdinand and Isabella were then holding their 
court at Barcelona ; and as soon as they received 
the news of the return of Columbus, they sent 
for him to give the account of his proceedings. 
Barcelona is almost at the northern extremity of 
the eastern coast of Spain, as Palos is almost at 
the southern extremit}^ of its western coast. Co- 
lumbus would have to traverse Spain by nearly 
its longest diagonal. Three hundred and fifty 
years ago travelling was much less expeditious 




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RECEPTION IN SPAIN. 159 

than at the present day. He had to take with 
hmi, to exhibit to his royal master and mistress, 
both the natives of the Western Indies and the 
specimens of the various productions of the islands 
which he had brought home. His progress was, 
therefore, unavoidably slow. 

*' He took with him on his journey," says Mr. 
Prescott, " specimens of the multifarious products 
of the newly-discovered region." He was accom- 
panied by several of the native islanders, arrayed 
in their simple barbaric costume, decorated with 
collars, bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, 
rudely fashioned. He exhibited also considerable 
quantities of the same metal in dust or in crude 
masses, numerous vegetable exotics possessed of 
aromatic or medicinal virtue, and several kinds of 
quadrupeds unknown in Europe, and birds whose 
varieties of gaudy plumage gave a brilliant effect 
to the pageant. The admiral's progress through 
the country was everywhere impeded by the mul- 
titudes thronging forth to gaze at the extraordi- 
nary spectacle and the more extraordinary man, 



160 COLUMBUS. 

who, in the emphatic language of that term which 
has now lost its force from its familiarity, first 
revealed the existence of a " new world." 

"As he passed tln-ough the busy, populous city 
of Seville, every window, balcony, and house-to}), 
Avliich could afford a glimpse of him was crowded 
with spectators." The multitude was increased by 
those from a distance on either side the line of 
road, who travelled to the point where they might 
be able to see the astonishing exhibition. This 
triumphant progress occupied nearly a month. 

" It was the middle of April " (we again quote 
from Mr. Prescott) " before Columbus reached 
Barcelona. The nobility and cavaliers in attend- 
ance on the court, together with the authorities 
of the city, came to the gates to receive him, and 
escorted him to the royal presence. Ferdinaiid 
and Isabella were seated, with their son Prince 
John, under a superb canopy of state, awaiting 
his arrival. On his approach they rose from their 
seats, and, extending their hands to him to salute, 
caused him to be seated before them. These 



EECEPTION IN SPAIN. 161 

were unprecedented marks of condescension to a 
person of Columbus's rank, in the haughty and 
ceremonious court of Castile. It was, indeed, the 
proudest moment in the life of Columbus. He 
had fully established the truth of his loiig-con- 
tested theory, in the face of argument, sophistry, 
sneer, scepticism and contempt. He had achieved 
this, not by chance, but by calculation, supported 
through the most adverse circumstances by con- 
summate conduct. The honors paid him, which 
had hitherto been reserved only for rank, or for- 
tune, or military success purchased by the blood 
and tears of thousands, were, in his case, a homage 
to intellectual power, successfully exerted in behalf 
of the noblest interests of humanity. 

" After a brief interval, the sovereigns re- 
quested from Columbus a recital of his adven- 
tures. His manner was sedate and dignified, but 
warmed by the glow of natural enthusiasm. He 
enumerated the several islands which he had 
visited, expatiated on the temperate character of 
the climate and the capacity of the soil for every 



162 COLUMBUS. 

variety of agricultural production, appealing to 
the samples imported by him as evidence of their 
natural fruitfulness. He dwelt more at large on 
the precious metals to be found in these islands ; 
which he inferred, less from the specimens actually 
obtained than from the uniform testimony of the 
natives to their abundance in the unexplored 
regions of the interior. Lastly, he pointed out 
the wide scope afforded to Christian zeal in the 
illumination of a race of men, whose minds, far 
from being wedded to any system of idolatry were 
prepared, by their extreme simplicity, for the re- 
ception of pure and uncorrupted doctrine. This 
last consideration touched Isabella's heart most 
sensibly ; and the whole audience, kindled with 
various emotions by the speaker's eloquence, filled 
up the perspective with the gorgeous coloring of 
their own fancies, as ambition, or avarice, or 
devotional feeling, predominated in their bosoms. 
When Columbus ceased, the king and queen, to- 
gether with all present, prostrated themselves on 
their knees in grateful thanksgivings, while the 



EECEPTIOISr IN SPAIK. 163 

solemn strains of the Te Deum were poured forth 
by the choir of the royal chapel as in commemo- 
ration of some glorious victory." * 

Nor was this all. Another paragraph from Mr. 
Prescott's work will serve to complete the descrip- 
tion of this, the highest point in the history of 
this great and celebrated man. " Columbus, dur- 
ing his residence at Barcelona, continued to 
receive from the Spanish sovereigns the most 
honorable distinctions which royal bounty could 
confer. When Ferdinand rode abroad, he v/as 
accompanied by the admiral at his side. The 
courtiers, in emulation of their master, made fre- 
quent entertainments, at which he was treated 
with the punctilious deference paid to a noble of 
the highest class. But the attentions most grate- 
ful to his lofty spirit were the preparations of the 
Spanish court for prosecuting his discoveries on 
a scale commensurate Avith their importance. A 
board was established for the direction of Indian 

* Prescott's History of the Reign of Ferdinaitd and Isabella the 
Catholic, of Spain, vol. ii. pp. 148 — 151. 



164 COLUMBUS. 

affairs, consisting of a superintendent and two 
subordinate functionaries. The first of these 
officers was Juan de Fonseca, Archdeacon of Se- 
ville, an active, ambitious prelate, subsequently 
raised to high episcopal preferment. His shrewd- 
ness and capacity for business enabled him to 
maintain the control of the Indian department 
during the whole of the present reign. An office 
for the transaction of business was instituted at 
Seville, and a custom-house placed under its direc- 
tion at Cadiz. This was the origin of the impor- 
tant establishment of the Casa de la Contrata- 
cion de las Indias, or India House." 

As to heraldic honors, Columbus Avas permitted 
to quarter the ro3^al arms with his own, which con- 
sisted of a group of golden islands amid azure 
billows. To these were afterwards added five 
anchors, with the celebrated motto, well known 
as being carved on his sepulchre. He received 
besides the substantial gratuity of a thousand 
doublas of gold from the royal treasury, and the 



BECEPTION IN SPAIN. 



165 




ARMS OF COLUMBUS. 



premium of ten thousand maravedises, promised to 
the person who first described land.* 



*The motto, afterwards inscribed on the costly monument 

erected over his remains in the cathedral at Seville, by King 

Ferdinand, was a pretty homely Spanish rhyme, easily imitated 

in English rhyme of the same character. 

"A Castilla y a Leon I '* Castile and Aaragon ncno have a new 
Nuevo mundodio Colon." I World, which Columbus gave" 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 

TliE remaining portion of the life of Colum- 
bus may be given with far more brevity 
than the former two portions allowed. His early 
history, the gradual formation of the grand idea 
of discovery beyond the hitherto unpassed Atlan- 
tic, and his persevering efforts to procure the 
means of its realization, constitute the first part ; 
remarkable as exhibiting the workings of a mind 
at once thoughtfully calculating and ardent, 
searching long and thoroughly before deciding, 
but deciding once for all, maintaining the decision 
with firmness, and willing to venture life and 
everything on the experiment. 

Not less remarkable is the second part, which 
contains the performance of the experiment itself. 

166 



CHARACTEE AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 167 

Never were apparently opposite qualities shown 
in combination more complete, decisive, or exem- 
plary. Bold, to the very appearance of rashness ; 
the boldness was the product of entire conviction, 
as the conviction was the effect of long and care- 
ful research. Ardent even to enthusiasm, the 
ardency was the fire of slow-collected thought, 
whose massive solidity was not easily nor quickly 
enkindled ; but which, once enkindled, burnt 
with a vehemence which no obstacle could resist, 
and with a steadiness which no delay could 
quench. Along with this ardor there was a patient 
intrepidity which no danger could terrify, and 
which knew equally how to advance and how to 
wait. In few men have the elements of greatness 
of character existed in such happy proportion ; 
each contributing to the strength of the whole, 
and all in harmony with each other. 

The third and concluding part of the life of 
Columbus is evidently a portion of the grand epic ; 
suggesting lessons not less deserving of study 
than those by which it was preceded; but the 



168 COLUMBUS. 

events which it includes do not demand the same 
minuteness of attention. It was in a new charac- 
ter that he undertook his second voyage. Before, 
he opened the way by which subsequent laborers 
had to proceed. But on his return from his first 
voyage, the work of original discovery was com- 
pleted. Had he paused here, his character as a 
discoverer would have stood as high as it now does. 
The problem was solved. Others might follow 
out the work of its practical application. Now, 
having forced the entry, he returned, not that 
others might pass through the door which he had 
found and opened, but that he himself might in 
this respect also be the leader of his followers. 
To him was the double honor allotted, first, of 
being the discoverer of the New World, and, sec- 
ondly, of being the first of a long list of enter- 
prising travellers who have labored at the task 
of particular description. This part of his history 
will be found to belong rather to the man — to 
his history in his more fully developed character — 
than in his more largely prosecuted works. 



CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 169 

The opinion entertained by Columbus, that 
Cuba was the end of the Asiatic continent, was 
likewise generally adopted. Disputes might there- 
fore arise on the subject with the crown of Portu- 
gal, to which all discoveries to the east had been 
confirmed by a papal bull. Ferdinand now solici- 
ted a similar authority for those made by his 
officers. The reigning pontiff was Alexander VI., 
a man eminent for vice, but crafty and able. In 
his application Ferdinand had been careful to in- 
sinuate that he should maintain his rights by force, 
if they were not otherwise confirmed. A bull was 
therefore issued, dated May 2nd, 1493.* An ideal 
line was drawn from pole to pole, a hundred 
leagues west of the Azores ; and to all countries 
discovered westward of this line the pope granted 
the same rights as were possessed by the Portu- 

*In consequence of subsequent disputes between the two 
crowns, another bull was issued June 4th, 1494, removing the 
dividing line to three hundred and seventy leagues west of the 
Cape de Yerde Islands. A singular consequence of this altera- 
tion was, that Brazil became the property of Portugal. 



170 COLTJMBrS. 

guese in regard to those which lay to its east- 
ward. The pretended successor of the apostle 
who said, " Silver and gold have I none," thus 
claimed the right of partitioning the world be- 
tween contending sovereigns! Thus, however, 
confirmed, as he believed, in the legitimate posses- 
sion of his claims, Ferdinand lost no time in 
causing a second expedition to be fitted out. 
Twelve ecclesiastics were likewise to accompany 
it, to promote among the Indians the work of con- 
version to the Roman faith. And as now there 
was no suspicion of anything chimerical in the 
undertaking, the preparations were more on a 
scale corresponding to its admitted importance 
and magnitude. 

The excitement occasioned by the recital of 
Columbus brought him many adventurers, re- 
questing to be permitted to accompan}^ him. 
Some were influenced by avarice, some by the 
love of romantic enterprise. Among the cavaliers 
was one of the name of Alonso de Ojeda, a young 
man of good family, and expert in all that was 



CHAEACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 171 

then considered necessary for a brave and accom- 
plished cavalier. During the preparation, disputes 
several times arose between Columbus and the 
persons employed to superintend it. This was 
particularly the case with Juan de Fonseca, an 
able but malignant and vindictive ecclesiastic. 
Columbus had to appeal to Ferdinand, who de- 
cided in his favor, and even repremanded Fonseca. 
But in this victory were the seeds of future ill. 
Fonseca became the bitter enemy of Columbus ; 
and from his position at the head of Indian affairs, 
which he maintained for thirty years, he had many 
opportunities of gratifying his rancorous temper; 
and in after times Columbus was made repeatedly 
to feel this, and at length to drink to the very 
dregs the cup of degradation. 

If the departure from Palos on the first voyage 
was gloomy, the second, from Cadiz, was alto- 
gether of a different character. There were three 
large ships of heavy burden, and fourteen caravels. 
The number of men permitted to sail was one 
thousand ; but some were permitted to go without 



172 COLUMBUS. 

pay, and others, so great was the enthusiasm, em- 
barked by stealth, so that on the whole Columbus 
was accompanied by fifteen hundred persons. 
Crowds thronged all the way to the shore, and 
he put off with the acclamations of the joyous 
multitude. He first sailed direct to the Canaries, 
where he took on board live stock, plants, and 
seeds for Hispaniola. Departing for his main 
voyage, October 13th, he lost sight of Ferro 
(north latitude about 27 1-2^), and steered nearly 
a south-westerly course, which brought him to 
land much earlier, as the Antilles lie about in 60^ 
west longitude, ranging from 20^ to 10^ north 
latitude. 

At day-break, November 2, twenty-eight days 
sooner than on his former voyage, he came to 
an island, to which, having been first seen on 
the Sunday, he gave the name of Dominica. 
Guadaloupe was next discovered, a little to the 
north ; and here the Spaniards first saw the pine- 
apple. Traces of cannibalism were likewise per- 
ceived. Others of the Caribbean islands were 



CHAEACTEB, AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 173 

discovered. At one of them, where the inhab- 
itants were very ferocious, the Spaniards had an 
encounter Avith them, in which the women fought 
as desperately as the men. One of the Spaniards 
died a few days after, from a wound by a 
poisoned arrow. Keeping to the westward, the 
large island of Porto Rico was discovered, from 
the western extremity of which, to the eastern 
cape of St. Domingo Avas a plain sail of about 
sixty miles. He arrived there November 22nd. 

Touching one day on the coast, on their way to 
La Navidad, two or three bodies were found on 
the shore, in a state of decay, but with evident 
marks of violence. One of them at least was a 
European. This event produced the utmost anx- 
iety for the colony, to which they now hastened, 
and arriving there on the 27th of November, 
had their worst fears realized. After much in- 
quiry, it was found that the Spaniards had 
quarrelled among themselves, and instead of 
either industriously prosecuting the designs of 
Columbus, or keeping good order, many spent 



174 COLUMBUS. 

their time indolently among the Indians. A 
neighboring cacique, a Carib, by name Caonabo, 
formed the design of surprising them. He did 
so most effectually. He came by night on the 
fortress, in which were only ten men ; the rest 
were in the village, where they were living 
in sensual, lawless security. The Spaniards in 
the fort all lost their lives. The friendly Indians 
were defeated, and many of the whites massa- 
cred, and the settlement was completely broken 
up. Neither gold nor any other valuable articles 
had been collected, and the conquerors had 
carried off the property of the white men as 
their booty. 

Columbus, however deeply he felt the occur- 
rence, lost no time in seeking to remedy it. 
He chose a better place, by a harbor ten leagues 
to the eastward, in a strong position, for his 
projected colony, where he laid the foundation 
of a town. And now began his troubles. They 
who accompanied him had expected to live an 
easy life, and to collect gold almost at their 



CHARACTER AND WOEK OF COLUMBUS 175 

will. When they were called to labor in the 
construction of the buildings, and found out that 
gold was only to be collected gradually, and 
with care, they became dissatisfied and turbu- 
lent. Columbus saw that the prospect before 
him was full of difficulties. He had also prom- 
ised to send some of the vessels back to Spain, 
with the gold and other articles, which he ex- 
pected to find ready. Nothing was provided. 

An expedition into the interior was planned, 
under the command of Don Alonso de Ojeda. 
On reaching the mountains, they saw that the 
gold was contained in the sands of the rivers 
flowing down from them. They brought home 
all they could find. Ojeda picked up a mass of 
rude gold weighing nine ounces. Columbus sent 
seven caravels back to Spain, as well loaded as 
his circumstances allowed, and detailed the his- 
tory of the disasters which had occurred. But in 
the colony the seeds of anger and sedition were 
rapidly growing. A conspiracy was formed, 
headed by the comptroller, to take advantage 



176 COLUMBUS. 

of an illness of Columbus (brought on by anx- 
iety and fatigue, and which, for some time, cod- 
fined him to his bed), to seize on the ships in 
the harbor, and return to Spain. It was discov- 
ered before it broke out. The leader was sent 
home to Spain for trial ; and others were pujushed 
though not as they deserved. 

And now another difficulty became apparent. 
Columbus was a foreigner, with no friends in 
Spain but those procured by his merits. The con- 
spirators were Spaniards ; with whom even the 
better-disposed sympathized as their felloAV-coun- 
trymen; and at home their connections were 
numerous, — of some of them, powerful. Hoping 
that activity would calm the disturbed spirits of 
his people, lie projected a powerful expedition 
into the interior, which he commenced on tlic 
12th of jNIarch, leaving his brother Diego to com- 
mand at Isabella (the name of the new city) 
during his absence. They penetrated into the 
region where gold was most plentiful, and in 
one place he began to build a fortress, naming it 




' 'hi 










■I 



I f i 

V|'^■• :' ! 



nil 



life . //'iPll 






I 



CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 179 

St. Thomas. The inhabitants were found to be 
like those hitherto met ; and having acquired all 
the information in his power, he returned, with 
the gold and other articles gathered in the prog- 
ress, to Isabella. Alarming intelligence soon ar- 
rived from Fort St. Thomas. The Indians had 
become unfriendly, and an attack from Caonabo 
was anticipated. To render this still more dis- 
tressing, maladies, arising from change of climate 
and diet, had broken out among the colonists, 
augmenting the prevalent dissatisfaction. 

He made what arrangements he could for the 
safety of the people, established a junta of gov- 
ernment under his brother Diego, and leaving two 
of his largest vessels in the harbor, on the 29th 
of April sailed for further discoveries in Cuba. 
He resolved to coast along its south side, hoping 
to arrive at the dominions of the Grand Khan, 
an illusion which, in one form or another, influ- 
enced him to the last. After having pursued this 
course some days, and still being pointed to the 
south for the golden country, on the 2ik1 of May 



180 COLUMBUS. 

he steered in that direction, and soon came in 
sight of Jamaica. He found the inhabitants both 
more ingenious and warUke than those of Cuba 
and Hayti ; but after coasting to its western end, 
finding no more of the great object of his quest 
than usual, he returned to Cuba, and slowly pro- 
ceeded westward, but still only perceiving the 
same general objects. His crews became, at 
length dissatisfied ; and though they Avould soon 
have arrived at the western extremity, insisted so 
strongly on returning that he was obliged to com- 
ply. Again touching at Jamaica, August 20th he 
made the western end of Hayti, sailed along the 
southern coast of the island, and had resolved to 
complete the discovery of the Caribbean islands, 
when, worn out by the fatigues and anxieties he 
had experienced since his arrival, his health en- 
tirely gave way; he sank into a death-like leth- 
argy and in a state of insensibility was conveyed 
to Isabella. 

After recovering his recollection, he rejoiced 
to see his brother Bartolomeo, who, after his 



CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 181 

journey to England, had been captured by a cor- 
sair on his return, and did not reach Spain till 
after his brother had left on his second voyage. 
As he was an able navigator, the sovereigns in- 
trusted him with the command of three vessels 
with supplies for the new settlements; and he 
had arrived at Isabella just before Columbus was 
brought there dangerously ill. He was the more 
thankful for this arrival of one in whose fidelity 
and talents he could repose implicit confidence, 
because, in his absence, avarice, licentiousness, 
indolence, and pride, had done their work, and 
the whole island was a scene of violence and dis- 
cord. The cacique, Caonabo, had taken advan- 
tage of the Spanish dissensions, and by craft 
and bravery the savage warrior-chief had sought 
the destruction of the new comers. The vigi- 
lance, courage, and activity of Don Alonzo de 
Ojeda, however, combined with European disci- 
pline, and the possession of firearms, rendered 
his attacks abortive; but hostilities were un- 
ceasing, and the affairs of the colony in the 



182 COLUMBUS. 

most critical condition. Dissatisfaction, too, was 
extensive. Labor and fighting were not the 
objects for which the majority liad left Spain ; 
and, in tlie bitterness of disappointment, they 
considered themselves as injured by Columbus. 

His great object, however, was the defeat of 
the hostile Indians. By a bold stratagem, con- 
ceived and executed by Ojeda, he obtained pos- 
session of the person of his most dangerous foe, 
Caonabo, who was imprisoned, though otherwise 
treated well. His brother raised a force for his 
rescue, but was defeated by Ojeda. Soon after, 
Columbus sent some vessels to Spain, with re- 
ports of his progress, and everything valuable he 
had been able to collect; and knowing that among 
those who had returned were two of his chief 
enemies, — Friar Buyl, and a Catalonian officer, 
Margarite, to whom the command of the fortress 
of St. Thomas had first been entrusted, but who 
had been removed for misbehavior, — he sent his 
brother Diego to explain the real state of things, 
and to defend his authority and character. 



CHAEACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 183 

111 March, 1495, Columbus learned that several 
caciques had united their forces, and were pre- 
paring to attack the Spaniards. He resolved to 
anticipate their schemes ; and, on the 27th of 
March, formed all the men who were available 
for the purpose, into a company. This amounted 
only to two hundred infantry and twenty horse. 
With this little army he marched to meet the 
foe ; taking along with him twenty blood-hounds, 
that animal being already introduced into West 
Indian service. In a few days by rapid marches, 
they came to the vega^ or plain, where a vast 
number of Indians were collected. The plain was 
nearly surrounded by forests, from the shelter 
of which the attack was made ; at first with 
fire-arms ; and then, when the Indians were 
thrown into confusion, they were charged by 
Ojeda, and in a short time the rout was total. 

Columbus, on his return, assumed the govern- 
ment of the whole island, whose inhabitants, 
according to the notions of the day, had been 
given as subjects to the Spanish crown. A regu- 



1^4 COLUMBUS. 

lar tribute was imposed of gold and cotton, and 
the natives felt that their thraldom was complete. 

The enemies of Columbus were now busily 
seeking to undermine his reputation in Spain. 
Saying nothing of the seditions which had called 
for punishment, nor of the idleness and profligacy 
which had sometimes rendered enforced labor 
the only preservation from ruin, ihej gave the 
worst form and the darkest coloring to all the 
acts of his government, and even supplied matters 
of well-grounded charge. Those, too, who had 
remained behind, and who had expected to be 
rich at once and to indulge themselves in slothful 
sensuality sent their reports to their friends in 
various parts of the country. 

And now appeared one of the consequences of 
the mistaken notions of Columbus as to the geo- 
graphy of those western countries. He believed 
that his voyage would take him to the civilized 
and wealthy regions of Asiatic India ; and when 
countries and people so different were discovered, 
scarcely any were far-sighted enough to perceive 



CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 185 

the real benefits that would ultimately accrue. 
Disappointed in their dreams of immediate 
wealth, they fell into the opposite extreme, of 
undervaluing the spleadid discoveries which had 
actually been made ; and not only of derogating 
from the merit of the great man by whose know- 
ledge and ability they had been achieved, but of 
regarding him as positively criminal. Fonseca, 
too, was always ready to give credit to these 
charges, and, as far as he could, to enforce them 
at court. Ferdinand, as well as his enlightened 
consort, appears to have seen through them ; but 
he was crafty and politic, and especially desirous 
to gain as much as he could at as little expense as 
was possible, and to allow Columbus to possess no 
power that might at a subsequent period become 
dangerous to the supreme authority of the crown. 
He did not, therefore, promptly repel the unjust 
accusations, as did the more noble-minded and 
generous Isabella, who never allowed her favor 
towards him to be shadowed. 

It was at length resolved to send out one Juan 



186 COLUMBUS. 

Aguado to inquire into the circumstances of the 
colony. He appears to have been a weak and 
vain man ; and when he arrived in Hispaniola, it 
was soon known that he was ready to receive all 
complaints against Columbus. The consequences 
may be at once anticipated. Every disappointed 
man is ready to blame any one rather than him- 
self; and every evil-doer regards the magistrate 
as a tyrant. Aguado soon had abundant materials 
for his report, and prepared to return to Spain 
with them. Columbus, also, awake to the true 
position of affairs, resolved to return at the same 
time. All was ready for their departure, when 
one of those tremendous storms common in tropi- 
cal climes, — called by the natives wraeanes, hence 
''hurricanes," — and of greater force than usual, 
swept over the island. Of the vessels read}^ to 
sail, three sank while at anchor, and all on board 
perished ; the others were driven on shore, some 
being total wrecks. 

While new preparations were making for the 
voyage which had thus beeu delayed, most im- 



CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 187 

portant intelligence was received. Hitherto, the 
gold found had been obtained from the sand of 
the mountain torrents, but no places had been 
discovered where the veins of the precious metal 
might be wrought. A young man had fled with 
a young Indian woman (she was afterwards bap- 
tized, and married to him), and resided on the 
opposite side of the island, near the present city 
of St. Domingo. Hoping to retain him, and know- 
ing how much the Spaniards valued gold, she took 
him to several places in the mountains, where 
gold-veins were to be seen in the rocks. In the 
midst of so much that is dark and even disgust- 
ing in the behavior of the bulk of the Spaniards, 
it is pleasing to have one instance to record of 
virtue and nobleness of mind. The young man 
had been in the service of Bartolomeo Columbus, 
and, knowing the importance of the information 
he could afford, he believed that he should obtain 
pardon for his desertion, and therefore returned 
to state what he had learned. He was equally 
faithful to his Indian bride and to his country. 



188 COLUMBUS. 

Columbus lost no lime in having these incip- 
ient mines examined, and rejoiced that the oppor- 
tunity of carrying such intelligence to Spain had 
been afforded him. The voyage was long and 
disastrous. The winds were tempestuous and con- 
trary. The vessel was crowded; and some of the 
most factious having resolved to return, and others 
being compelled to do so by the failure of their 
health. The usual sufferings of a stormy and 
protracted passage were aggravated by an alarm- 
ing scarcity of provisions. Some who were on 
board wished Columbus to kill, for food, some of 
the Indians he was taking with him ; and it re- 
quired all his authority and firmness to prevent 
the execution of their horrid proposal. The 
voyage was at length concluded ; and on the 11th 
of June, 1496, the vessel anchored in the bay of 
Cadiz. 

It was as though everything now conspired 
against Columbus. From that port he had sailed 
with a splendid equipment, and fifteen hundred 
enthusiastic followers, amid the plaudits and shouts 



CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 189 

of a multitude of spectators. One shattered 
vessel returned, with a sickly and half-famished 
crew, and passengers in the same condition. 
Their garments were tattered, their countenances 
sunken and care-worn, and their complexion so 
sallow, that the angry and biting jest became 
common, that ''they had brought home more gold 
in their faces than in their pockets." Columbus 
himself, who had put off from that very shore a 
splendidly arrayed cavalier, in glittering armor, 
came on shore, in pursuance of some vow, in the 
habit of a Franciscan friar, his beard long and 
untrimmed, and girt round the waist with the 
cord of the order. He hastened, however, to the 
court at Burgos, carrying with him a number of 
golden ornaments and several Indians. He was 
received with favor, and even kindness; but he 
soon perceived that the national enthusiasm had 
died away, that his enemies were numerous and 
powerful, ready to exaggerate his mistakes into 
faults, his faults into high crimes. But for the 



190 COLUMBUS. 

resolution of the sovereigns, he must have sunk 
under the weight thus fallen upon him. 

The discovery of the gold mines at Hayti was 
a favorable circumstance ; and, perhaps, chiefl}^ 
induced the sovereigns to comply with his re- 
quest, that two vessels should be despatched with 
supplies for the colony, and six put under his own 
command for a third voyage of discovery. But 
he had to experience many vexatious delays. He 
felt the enmity of Fonseca at every step. The 
Spanish exchequer was inadequate to the j)ressing 
demands then made on it through the foreign rela- 
tions of the country. It had been hoped that, not 
only would these new Indies repay the expenses 
connected with their discovery, but materially, and 
at once, improve the finances of the state. Instead 
of this, there was a present and heavy expenditure, 
far exceeding the actual returns. Few saw that 
the returns, though slow, were ultimately certain. 
Fewer still perceived, or were willing to acknowl- 
edge, the reason they were not greater. Agri- 
culture had been neglected, for those greedy 



CHARA.CTEE AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 191 

for gold would not condescend to labor. The 
Indians had been so treated, that even the little 
cultivation of the ground to which they were 
accustomed had been resolutely omitted, as they 
hoped, at the hazard of starving themselves, to 
starve out their invaders. The more able and 
faithful Spaniards had to be employed in conflicts 
which the wanton and intolerable outrages the 
others had provoked; conflicts so devastating, 
that the natives were almost exterminated. In 
four years from the first arrival of the Euro- 
peans, several hundred thousands had bean made 
their victims. Famine, at one time, was only 
avoided by a law of compulsory labor, and a 
diminished allowance of food. Hence the poverty 
of the settlement, and the torrent of complaints 
of the settlers. "These unpalatable regulations," 
Mr. Prescott has observed, with a keen sense of 
justice " soon bred general discontent. The 
high-mettled hidalgos, especially, complained 
loudly of the indignity of such mechanical 
drudgery, while Father Buyl and his brethren 



192 COLUMBUS. 

were equally outraged by the diminution of their 
regular rations." 

The fleet was not ready for Columbus till the 
beginning of 1498; and Avhen the vessels were 
equipped, great difficulty was found in manning 
them. The tide of popular feeling had set in 
against the expedition. At length he suggested 
the unhappy expedient, the bitter fruit of which 
he himself soon felt, of commuting the punish- 
ment of convicts to transportation to the West 
Indies. The evils which already so oppressed 
him arose from the bad character of so many of 
the settlers ; and this measure tended powerfully 
to strengthen the mischief. 

At length, all things being ready, he sailed 
from St. Lucar on May 80th, 1498. But, just 
before he embarked, a painful incident occurred, 
in which the well-disciplined, strongly governed 
mind of the man was for once, unhappily over- 
come. The enmity of Fonseca was so well 
known that even his menial agents were encour- 
aged to be insolent. One of them, Ximeno de 



CHARACTER AND WORK OF COLUMBUS. 193 

Breviesca, a converted Moor or Jew, whose tongue 
was unbridled, so provoked Columbus by his au- 
dacity, that he struck him down and spurned him. 
He had to pause now for his own justification. 
This act was declared to be a proof of his vindic- 
tive temper and harshness in government. He en- 
treated the sovereigns not to allow it to injure 
him in their opinion, "but to remember, when 
anything should be said to his disparagement, 
that he was * absent, envied, and a stranger.' " * 
♦Washington Irving's Life of Columbus. 




KATIVE HOUSE. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

THE THIRD VOYAGlfi. 

THE third voj^age of this great man was now 
commenced. From the Madeira Islands he 
despatched three of his vessels to Hispaniola witli 
supplies ; with the remaining three he prosecuted 
his own voyage, sailing first for the Cape de 
Verde Islands, and thence south-west till he 
arrived in the latitude of 5° north. Here the 
weather became calm, and intensely hot. Ulti- 
mately, he availed himself of a light breeze, and 
sailed more northerly. On the 31st of July, three 
mountains were seen from the mast-head. Sailing 
towards them, he came to an island, to which, 
because these three mountains at the base were 
united, he gave the name which it still retains, 
Trinidad. Sailing along its south side, he saw 

194 . 



THE THIRD VOYAGE* 195 

land stretching away for twenty leagues. Sup- 
posing it to be another island, he called it La 
Isla Santa. It was part of the coast of the great 
South American continent, near the mouths of 
the Orinoco, which he then, though not aware of 
it, beheld for the first thne. 

Trinidad seems almost as though broken off 
from the continent. Its northern coast runs on 
as though it were a continuation of the coast of 
the mainland. Just opposite its western corner, 
the mainland sends out a long, projecting, narrow 
neck, as though to meet it, which it almost does. 
Southward, it recedes again to the west, forming a 
gulf, bounded by the mainland on the west, and 
Trinidad on the east. On the north and south 
the island and continent project towards each 
oilier: the spaces between them are the only 
entrances from the sea. One of the outlets of 
the Orinoco flows into it. This is the Gulf of 
Paria. 

Columbus spent a little time here. He was- 
surprised at the lessened saltness of the water. 



196 COLUISIBUS. 

He little thought that the group of numerous 
islands -s^ ere formed by the different outlets of a 
mighty river, or that when he went on shore he 
then stood on the terra Jirma of a vast continent. 
From the natives he procured a number of pearls, 
many of them of fine size and quality. The 
fishery for pearls was a gratifying discovery to 
him ; and the various phenomena he witnessed 
so strongly excited his curiosity, that he much 
wished to remain lonjjer for further investio-ation. 
But his sea-stores were almost exhausted, and he 
was suffering severely from the gout. Oji the 
14th of August he left the gulf bv its northern 
entrance, and sailed direct for Hispaniola, where 
he arrived wearied, and, through a complaint in 
his eyes, almost blind. He was most affection- 
ately welcomed by the adelantado, or lieutenant- 
governor, his brother Bartolomeo, whom he had 
invested with that command on his departure. 

Columbus found the affairs of the colony in a 
deplorable state. Faction had produced the most 
destrtictive dissensions. Conspiracies had been 



THE THIRD VOYAGE. 197 

formed, which required force to put them down ; 
and great outrages had been committed on the 
Indians. These were so exasperated, that when 
the}' beheld the weakness occasioned by these 
quarrels and disturbances, they refused to pay the 
accustomed tribute. A traitor by the name of 
Roldan induced a number of Spaniards to accom- 
pany him to a part of the island where he said 
they might establish themselves, and live easy and 
happy lives. By happiness he meant sensuality. 
He instigated the Indians to war, and the ade- 
lantado and his troops were almost wearied out 
with the incessant toil thus occasioned. Never 
was the Cliristian name more fearfull}' disgraced, 
and never was the moral character of the Divine 
administration more clearly visible. The natural 
operations of wickedness, not onl}^ extinguished 
what might have been a rich and noble prosperit}- ; 
as advantageous to the natives as to the settlers, 
but lit up a flame of mischief ultimately destruc- 
tive of the very last Indian, and withered the 
European settlements in their whole progress, till 



198 COLUMBUS. 

a dreadful revenge, almost in our own day, drove 
out the last white man, and left Hayti the pos- 
session of the imported negroes. 

When Columbus arrived, Roldan and his party 
were living in another part of the island. The 
caravels sent by Columbus from Cape de Yerde 
Islands had put in there, and, as the captains 
were ignorant of the real state of the island, the 
rebel was received on board, and soon persuaded 
the half-pardoned convicts to join him. His 
strength was so great, that Columbus, though 
superior, felt it necessary to temporize, lest in the 
weakness of civil war, the Indians should destroy 
both. But though an apparent accommodation 
was affected, the cause of Columbus was deeply 
injured in Spain. Roldan wrote home, and laid 
all the blame on the brothers. Columbus simply 
narrated the affair ; but the tales of his enemies 
found believers, and added to the prejudices 
against him which had already operated power- 
fully. In such cases, the worse side, unless dealt 
with by justice in its powers, will always gain the 



THE THIRD VOYAGE. 199 

ascendancy. For such men as this Roldan, not 
to be punished was a victory. 

For some time matters continued in this pain- 
ful condition. But at home, the power of his 
enemies increased. At every opportnnit}^ he sent 
true accounts of the actual state of things ; but 
Fonseca was always ready to receive accusations, 
and was supported by the friends of the abandoned 
wretches who were thus building up in wickedness 
Spanish colonization in the New World. He was 
one, and at a distance, and spoke only by his let- 
ters. His enemies at liome and abroad were 
numerous. The settlers op2:>osed to him were 
men not likely to regard truth, and their friends 
in Spain only sought matter of accusation. 

By numbers and perseverance they, at length, 
so far prevailed, that Ferdinand had not courage 
to continue his resistance. His craftiness would 
likewise induce him to think that Columbus had 
already done as much service as was to be ex- 
pected from him, and that his Avithdrawment 
would at all events bring peace. He yielded, 



200 COLUMBUS. 

therefore, to the solicitations of the adversaries 
of Columbus, who were careful to present their 
requests in the most equitable guise, and conceal 
their unconquerable animosity under the appear- 
ances of a strict justice. They only wished for 
inquiry ; from which Columbus, if innocent, as he 
represented himself, would come forth, not only 
with safety, but with honor. They thus procured 
the appointment of a judge, invested with full 
poAvers, and therefore superior to the admiral him- 
self.. Had a proper person been appointed, the 
bold Genoese, whose gifts w^ere so far in advance 
of his age, would have been spared the cutting 
degradation to which he was subjected, and Fer- 
dinand the blackest ingratitude of which he could 
have been guilty. It was right that the matter 
should have been brought to decision. But had 
Ferdinand desired, not simply to be freed from 
the trouble of hearing accusations, designed by 
constant repetition to supply the lack of truth and 
honesty, but to procure a decision which should 
establish the truth,- he ought to have taken the 



THE THIED VOYAGE. 201 

utmost care to send out one from whom, so far as 
expectation may be founded on man, he might 
satisfactorily expect a decision according to jus- 
tice. Awful is the responsibility of those who 
possess power, be it in a higher or lower degree. 
An obligation rests on them to be just. Mistaken 
they may be, for they are men ; but no allowance 
is to be made for mistakes where every precaution 
has not been taken to avoid them. 

The person appointed as Ferdinand's delegate, 
— and for whose acts, Ferdinand himself was 
responsible, — was Don Francisco de Bobadilla. 
He was an officer in the royal household, and 
commander of the religious and military order 
of Calatrava. He was said to be a very religious 
man. Among the evil-doers in Hispaniola who 
had ruined the colony, and were now seeking 
revenge on Columbus because he opposed their 
indolence, licentiousness, avarice, and haughtiness, 
perhaps there was scarcely one who would not, at 
the appointed hour, recite the regular prayers. 
Fonseca likewise was called a religious man. But 



202 COLUMBUS. 

the religion of mere externalism is no security for 
moral uprightness. With far greater truth, it 
is said that he was passionate and amhitious; 
and also, that, though in exalted rank, his circum- 
stances were needy. 

Don Francisco arrived at St. Domingo on the 
23rd of August, 1500. Columbus had just put 
down a daring rebellion, and had felt himself 
obliged, by its character, to cause some of the 
leaders to be executed. Their bodies, suspended 
on a gibbet near the harbor, were se<^n by Boba- 
dilla as he entered, and he immediately accepted 
this as a proof of the admiral's cruelty. He had 
been invested with the power of governor, in case 
of the proved delinquency of Columbus ; but the 
day after he landed without inquiry, except from 
the admiral's foes, who had already gained his 
favor, and without having even seen Columbus, 
he caused his patent as governor to be proclaimed, 
and assumed the supreme authority. He took up 
his abode in the house of Columbus, who was then 
absent, seized on all his papers, and disposed of 



THE THEED VOYAGE. 205 

all his property as if already confiscated to the 
crown. 

The remainder may be anticipated. The officer 
who could act thus was not likely to observe any 
further forms of justice, nor to exercise his power 
with mercy. He arrested Don Diego without 
stating any reason, put him in irons, and confined 
him on board a vessel in the harbor. As soon as 
Columbus arrived, he ordered him also to be 
arrested, conducted to the fort as a j^i'isoner, and 
likewise to be put in irons. Columbus submitted 
patiently to all; but when the fetters were 
brought, the recollection of his services, as well as 
his unbroken dignity in misfortune, made every 
one unwilling to put them on; and the hero of 
adversity stood waiting to be manacled, till one of 
his own servants came forward to rivet the chains. 
Two fine pictures might be furnished by an artist 
capable of expressing on canvas the thought as 
shown in the countenance. The first should be 
Columbus on the prow of his vessel, looking to- 
wards the land, in the first glow of the morning 



206 COLUMBUS. 

after tlie night in which land had been discovered. 
The second should be Columbus standing in the 
prison of the fortress, siuTounded by those who 
had conducted him there, holding the fetters that 
they shrank from fastening on him : while, in per- 
fect contrast with the nobility of the prisoner, 
would be seen the reptile meanness of the servant 
coming forward to bind liim. 

Not even the dignified submission of Columbus 
could affect the soul of Bobadilla, who, judging of 
others by liimself, seemed to have believed that 
his prisoner was awed by the dignit}^ of his su- 
perior. Don Bartolomeo, arriving soon after, 
experienced the same treatment. Vice had now 
obtained the victory. They whose conduct had 
occasioned the distresses of the colony revelled in 
their triumph. Bobadilla soon collected sufficient 
matter of accusation, and Columbus, still in 
chains, was ordered to be taken to Spain. He 
went to the ship once more amidst shouts ; but 
they were the shouts of a miscreant rabble, who 
took a brutal joy in heaping insults on his venera- 



THE THIRD VOYAGE. 20T 

ble head; and sent curses after him from the 
ishmd he had so recently added to the civilized 
world.* The officer who had to convey him to 
Spain, Alonzo de Yillejo, was in the employ of 
Fonseca, — a significant circumstance. He was a 
man, however, of honorable feeling, and sought 
to render the voyage as little irksome to him as 
possible. He Avould have removed the irons ; but 
to this Columbus Avould not consent. "I was 
directed by my sovereigns to submit to Bobadilla 
in their name. By their authority he has put on 
me these chains, and I will wear them till they 
are by the same authority removed. I shall then 
preserve them as relics and memorials of the re- 
ward of my services.'' He afterwards hung tliem 
up in his cabinet, and his dying request was that 
they miglit be buried with him. 

When Columbus arrived in Cadiz, and was 
taken on shore in chains, a generous burst of in- 
dignation arose on every side, which soon spread 
tliroughout Spain. Not knowing how far his 

♦"Washinstou Irving's Life of Columbus. 



208 COLUMBUS. 

treatment was due to the orders of the sovereigns, 
he did not write to them, but to a lady of high 
rank, who had been nurse to Prince Juan. To 
her he full}^ explained the whole case, justifyinr 
his conduct so clearly, and in such moving lan- 
guage, that when the letter was read to Isabella, 
her sympathy and indignation were strongly ex- 
cited. The king, too, soon saw that his ofi&cers 
had not only gone too far for justice, but too far 
even for the public opinion of that day. Orders 
were sent off, without waiting for the despatches 
of Bobadilla, to release the prisoner ; a large sum 
of money was sent to him, and he was directed to 
repair forthwith to the court. His reception there 
was as favorable as ever. When the queen saw 
him approach, still dignified, but mournful, and 
now evidently worn with both care and age, slio 
burst into tears, and Columbus was subdued. 
The contumel}^ of the upstarts of Hispaniola, liis 
lofty mind had sustained; but to see the weeping- 
sympathy of his sovereign, was more than he could 
bear. He knelt before her, and wept aloud. The 



THE THIRD VOYAGE. 209 

sovereigns encouraged him by kind expressions 
and he eloquently vindicated himself. Ferdinand 
saw through the whole ; but he was now resolved 
to be governed by his usual policy. Columbus 
should be honored and rewarded, but not restored 
to his former official condition. 

The king began now to be aware of the true 
magnificence and value of the almost boundless 
field of discovery to which Columbus had led the 
way ; and he was unwilling to allow him to realize 
the honors and wealth for which he had originally 
stipulated. He endeavored to prevail on this 
faithful servant to exchange the reward previously 
agreed upon, for possessions and rank in Spain. 
He felt that Columbus was ho longer necessary ; 
and the viceroyadty of the Spanish Indies already 
appeared to be an office to which some, even 
among the, higher rank of courtiers, might aspire. 
And this point was soon decided. Not only the 
conduct of Bobadilla to Columbus, but his subse- 
quent conduct to the natives, demanded his recall. 
His own avarice suggested that this might be the 



210 COLUMBUS. 

case ; and he both acted accordingly himself, and 
exhorted his menial supporters to do the same. 
To collect gold by any means was their only 
object; and to effect this, the natives were op- 
pressed, and the colony governed, worse than 
ever. Don Nicolas de Ovando was appointed to 
supersede him. He was very different from his 
predecessor, but to the Indians he was a cruel op- 
pressor; and his conduct to Columbus was most 
ungenerous. His powers were ample, and govern- 
ment extensive ; and with a brilliant retinue, and 
thirty vessels, carrying two thousand five hun- 
dred persons, he left Spain for the new world on 
February 13th, 1502. 

Columbus remained at home, a solicitor for jus- 
tice. At one time, he conceived a project for the 
recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. At length, the 
arrival of Vasco de Gama from India, and the 
wealth which seemed pouring into Portugal, in- 
duced him to request that he might undertake a 
fourth voyage, in which he still hoped to arrive at 
Asia by sailing to the west. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE FOURTH VOYAGE. 

AT last he obtained permission; and having 
completed the necessary preparations, on 
the 9th of May, 1502, he sailed from Cadiz, 
though with only four vessels; the largest of 
seventy, the smallest of fifty, tons burden. His 
crew consisted of one hundred and fifty men. 
His object was to discover a strait by which he 
might pass into undiscovered seas, and complete 
the circumnavigation of the globe. He was for- 
bidden to touch at Hispaniola ; and his own plan 
was to follow the coast from the Gulf of Paria 
till he should arrive at the expected opening. He 
reached Martinico on the 15th of June. The 
leaky condition of his own vessel, and her unfit- 
ness to struggle with stormy weather, obliged him 

211 



212 COLUMBUS. 

to sail to Santo Domingo, hoping to exchange his 
vessel there for a better. Ovando refused to 
alloAV him even to land. A fleet was at that time 
ready to sail for the mother country. On board 
were several mutineers, whom Ovando was send- 
ing home for trial. Bobadilla was returning, liav- 
ing succeeded in amassing immense riches. He 
had one large mass of pure gold, which he in- 
tended as a present to purchase security. Other 
adventurers had likewise taken on board large 
quantities of gold. One vessel, said to be the 
weakest in the fleet, carried about four thousand 
pieces of gold, the property of Columbus, which 
his agent was remitting. Tliough repelled from 
the shores he had discovered, Columbus was 
not like his vindictive foes. His knowledge led 
him to anticipate the approach of a hurricane; 
and he sent a message, stating his fears, and pray- 
ing that the departure of the fleet, the wealthiest 
that had yet sailed for Spain, might be delayed. 
He himself took refuge in a place of as great 
security as he could find, some distance to the 



THE EOUETH VOYAGE. 213 

westward. In a day or two a tremendous hurri- 
cane came on, and nothing but the precautions 
he had taken saved his little fleet from total 
destruction. 

In the mean time, Ovando, so far from attend- 
ing to the warning thus kindly given, had has- 
tened the sailing of the Spanish fleet, and Boba- 
dilla, with his ill-gotten riches, rejoiced to find 
himself on his Avay home. Scarcely were they 
well out to sea, when the storm came down in 
fury, and the sailors were utterly powerless. Of 
the eighteen ships, only three or four escaped ; 
and these were obliged to return to St. Domingo. 
The richest vessels foundered, and among them 
that which carried Bobadilla and his wealth; as 
also did one on board which were two hundred 
thousand castellanos of gold, one-half of which 
was the property of the crown. 

It is remarkable that the vessel containing the 
property of Columbus sustained the least injury, 
and that it was the only one that returned safe 
to Spain. It is not for man to speak as an oracle 



214 COLUMBUS. 

on such events. Our Saviour, in the case of the 
Galileans slain by Pilate, and those on whom the 
tower in Siloam fell, has forbidden all such rash 
decisions concerning the administration of the 
providential government of God. But, on the 
other hand, it is not to be forgotten that " there is 
a God that judgeth in the earth;" and that there 
are occurrences in which " the Lord is known by 
the judgments which He executeth." When such 
wonderful coincidences are seen, the Christian will 
bow with aAve in adoration of the righteousness 
of the Lord God omnipotent, who reigneth King 
forever. 

Columbus now pursued his voyage. He first 
arrived on the south coast of Cuba, and thence 
steering nearly to the south-west, he reached the 
mainland where Truxillo now stands, in the Gulf 
of Honduras. The inhabitants here told him of 
a country well cultivated, rich, and populous, to 
the north-west. Never was he so near his great 
object as now. Had he listened to them, the dis- 
covery of Mexico might not have been left for 



THE FOURTH VOYAGE. 215 

Cortes. He was now on the northern coast of the 
Isthmus of Panama. Only once, and that not 
yet, was he within a less distance of the mighty 
Pacific. But he was prepossessed by the belief of 
a strait; and for its discovery kept sailing along 
the coast, to the east and south. The weather 
became very stormy, and himself seriously ill, so 
that for some time he made little progress. The 
natives, at the different places at which he landed, 
he found more warlike. Various rumors induced 
him several times to send out exploring parties ; 
and lie had sometimes severe contests with the 
Indians, in which several of the Spaniards lost 
their lives. 

It is singular that he paid no attention to the 
rumors which would have led him to Mexico. 
Much gold, however, was collected ; and in the 
end of April, 1503, he arrived at the south-eastern 
extremity of the isthmus, at its narrowest part, 
little thinking that by ascending the mountains in 
the interior, the wide Pacific would have been 
seen rolling beneath him. Here, however, his 



216 COLUMBUS. 

crews refused to continue the voyage. The ships 
were shattered, the men worn out with toil, and 
on the first of May, leaving the mainland forever, 
he steered northward, and arrived at Cuba, where 
their vessels were found no longer seaworthy. 
Diego Mendez, one of the most intrepid and 
faithful of his officers, volunteered to endeavor to 
reach St. Domingo in a canoe with a few Indians. 
Columbus was left for many weeks, during which 
his men mutinied, and some escaped; the re- 
mainder were so feeble, that the Indians began to 
grow negligent in supplying them with provisions. 
It was then that Columbus employed his astro- 
nomical knowledge to good effect, b}^ predicting 
an eclipse of the moon, so terrifying the Indians, 
that they hastened to bring food in abundance. 
Eight months thus elapsed. The messengers of 
Columbus had great difficulty in persuading 
Ovando to send a vessel for Columbus and what 
remained of the crew. It is to be feared that this 
bad man washed him to perish in his abandon- 
ment. At length, after many excuses, even at St. 



THE FOURTH VOYAGE. 219 

Domingo, indignation began to murmur at such 
black and shameless ingratitude, and Ovando was 
obliged to yield. A vessel was despatched, and 
arrived at the wrecked and useless vessel whicli 
for nearly a year had been the dwelling of tho 
discoverer of America; and on the 13th of 
August, 1504, he arrived at St. Domingo, where 
Ovando received him with much apparent cour- 
tesy, but allowed him to exercise none of tlie 
powers granted to him by his original agreement 
with the sovereigns. 

At length, subdued in spirit by the ungrateful 
treatment he received, on the 12th of September 
he finally left the regions he had opened to 
Europe, and, on the 7th of November he landed 
at St. Lucar; thus concluding his last and most 
disastrous, but yet not least important voyage. 

Columbus, aged and infirm, might now have 
expected honorable repose ; but his last days were 
filled with little more than afflictions and trials. 
The property in his possession had been expended 
during his last residence at St. Domingo and in 



220 COLUMBUS. 

securing his return. Immense sums, indeed, were 
due to liim ; but all the delays and obstacles that 
the Indian Board, over which his old enemy 
Fonseca still presided, could throw in his wa}', 
were employed to harass him. To crown all, 
when he arrived in Spain, his munificent and 
changeless friend, the queen, was on her death- 
bed, and in three weeks from his landing she 
died. Well did he know the difference between 
the selfish Ferdinand and the noble Isabella. 

By the cold-hearted monarch all his applica-' 
tions were treated with indifference. He was 
referred to the officers of government, and per- 
sonal enmity found ample means for seeming 
delay and real neglect, in official forms ; and thus 
he who had opened to Spain the road to the 
wealth of the New AVorld, was left to languish in 
unrequited poverty. He employed various per- 
sons in unsuccessful missions to the court ; and 
among the singular events of the history of this 
great man, not the least singular is, that one of 
the persons thus employed, and of whom he 




TOMB OF COLUMBUS AT HAVANA. 



THE POUBTH VOYAGE. 223 

speaks in one of his letters as a " worthy but 
unfortunate man, who had not profited as much 
as he deserved by his undertakings, and wlio had 
always been disposed to render him service," was 
no other than the man from whose Christian 
name the regions discovered by Columbus have 
received their permanent denomination, Amerigo 
Vespucci. 

All his efforts were vain. In a brief interval 
of recovered strength he visited Ferdinand, who 
received him courteously, and paid him with 
smiles and good words. In making his will, in 
which his son Diego was declared his heir, he 
bequeathed little more than large and most right- 
eous claims, admitted but never paid to himself, 
and only in part and by compromise, to his 
heirs. 

His continued illness gradually undermined his 
iron constitution ; and before long he was laid on 
the bed of death. He paid to the last ceremonies 
prescribed by the church the most exact atten- 
tion. He died, aged seventy, at Valladolid, May 



224 



COLUMBUS. 



20th, 1506. The last words he was heard to 
utter were one of the accustomed sentences, 
" Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." 



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He was first interred at Valladolid, and, six 
years later, his remains were removed to Seville, 
and deposited in the cathedral there, where Fer- 
dinand had no objection to erect a stately monu- 



THE FOURTH VOYAGE. 225 

ment to his memory. From this place, in 1536, 
they were removed to St. Domingo, where they 
remained till 1795, when, on the cession of His- 
paniola to the French, the Spaniards resolved that 
they should be transported to Cuba. The tomb 
was opened on the 20th of December, and the 
fragments of a leaden coffin, with hones and dust, 
were found, put into a coffin of gilded lead, and, 
after a religious service the next day, taken to the 
shore in an imposing military and ecclesiastical 
procession. A similar procession was formed at 
Havana, to receive the coffin and convey it to 
the cathedral, where it was deposited on the right 
side of the high altar. 



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